Chinese consumers using UnionPay debit and credit cards to buy insurance products will have such purchases capped at US$5,000 per transaction effective February 4 as regulators attempt to close loopholes enabling capital outflows, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Many mainlanders have been buying insurance in Hong Kong, where the currency is officially pegged to the US dollar, as a way to skirt increasingly strict controls on how much capital can be moved abroad. Purchases of insurance policies by mainland visitors to the territory reached HK$21.1 billion (US$2.7 billion) last year through September, following a 64% growth 2014, according Hong Kong’s industry regulator
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