SAFE: New moves to keep illegal funds out

Beijing announced new measures yesterday to stem the flow of foreign funds entering the country through illegal trade channels. In its latest statement, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said it will strengthen supervision of cross-border fund flows while speeding up reforms of the foreign-exchange settlement system, the Wall Street Journal reported. The agency did not provide details but said efforts to date have "restricted irregular cross-border foreign fund flows through trade channels." The regulator started placing companies for foreign-exchange irregularities on a watchlist last November, the newspaper reported. By the end of April, the list had 5,745 companies.