Mark Mobius said he couldn’t withdraw his money from China due to the country’s capital controls, warning investors to be ‘very, very careful’ when investing in an economy under tight government control .
“I have an account at HSBC in Shanghai. I can’t withdraw my money. The government is restricting the flow of money out of the country,” Mobius, founder of Mobius Capital Partners, told FOX Business in an interview published on Tuesday. March 2.
“I can’t get an explanation why they’re doing this… They put up all kinds of barriers. They don’t say: No, you can’t withdraw your money. But they say, give us all the 20-year-old records of how you made that money… This is crazy.
Mobius’ comments were posted on Chinese social media site WeChat over the weekend.
Mobius led emerging market investments at Franklin Templeton Investments for three decades and is known for his bullish view of China. Now, however, he said, it would “be very, very careful” to invest in the country.
“The bottom line is that China is moving in a completely different direction from what Deng Xiaoping instituted when they launched the grand reform agenda,” he said, referring to the former Chinese leader.
“Now you have a government taking preferred shares in companies all over China. That means they’re going to try to control all these companies… So I don’t think it’s a very good picture when you see the government becoming more and more focused on controlling the economy.
Mobius, which calls itself “the Indiana Jones of emerging markets investing,” told FOX Business it was increasing its exposure to alternative markets such as India and Brazil.
Mobius and HSBC could not be reached this weekend.
