LOSS OF CONFIDENCE IN CHINA’S OUTLOOK LED MANY ... TO SEND THEIR MONEY ABROAD.

money abroad, thanks to an improved economic outlook and tough new efforts to keep the money at home. But the underground bank bust announced Thursday showed the lengths that authorities will pursue to enforce limits on money leaving the country.

Chinese police have detained seven people believed to be involved in the bank, according to the Thursday reports. Authorities discovered 148 “illegal and fraudulent accounts” from the bank, involving more than 10,000 people, the Xinhua report said.

Underground banks are illegal but common in China. According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, underground banks handled more than US$137 billion in transactions last year. There are also lawful ways of moving princely sums out of China without surpassing government limits: directing money to casinos in Macau — the only Chinese territory where gambling is legal — as well as using credit cards to buy luxury goods abroad and move out of the country in a year, although businesses and those making strategic investments can send out much more.

But growing numbers of people began dodging the limits two years ago, when a stock market crash, a surprise government-led currency devaluation and prospects of slowing economic growth led many to seek safer havens for their money.

President Xi Jinping has made it a top priority to keep more money in China. His government has shut down platforms that trade cryptocurrencies, announced controls on outbound investment in property, entertainment and soccer, and imposed curbs on payments overseas.

Much of China’s underground banking activity is centred in cities that border Hong Kong and Macau, special administrative regions of China that are governed by their own laws.

In Shaoguan, police were alerted to a suspicious bank account that was opened in 2011 in the city by a Mr.