Kyoto Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Where do I buy some Yuan? Is this a good idea? You may wonder why anyone would do this. Investing in Chinese currency may sound like something best left to speculators.But in reality this may be no more exotic than, say, Peking duck. Holding some of your money in Chinese currency—as part of a diversified portfolio, as they say—might be a very sensible move for all of us. Why? Five reasons. It's very unlikely to go down. It's very likely to go up. You won't miss out on a lot of interest elsewhere, as nowhere else is paying a lot of interest. It will diversify your portfolio. And, finally, it may offer you and your family something of a hedge against the decline of the U.S. economy. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307404576080222812076888.html?mod=WSJAsia__MIDDLETopStories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Where do I buy some Yuan? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307404576080222812076888.html?mod=WSJAsia__MIDDLETopStories Do we have a BoC here in the UK ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Do we have a BoC here in the UK ? The banks in the UK which serve the Chinese community will pummel you with charges BIG charges on a regular basic. Chinese people by and large put up with it because they are hiding money from the tax man and are scared of bringing huge bundles of cash through the airports. Thus they turn to Bank of China which charges £25 for a cheque of some kind IF you are willing to provide a real name and ID. If you are a walk in customer they will unfortunately have to charge you a non customer fee of £100. However contrary to the SOCPA rules they forget to check your identity. It stopped when the Euro came out and people stuffed their wallets with big denomination Euro notes. I mean £5K was about 3mm thick in your wallet. Money mules people I used to know could bring £500K through commercial air travel extremely easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repetitive bleats Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 The banks in the UK which serve the Chinese community will pummel you with charges BIG charges on a regular basic. Chinese people by and large put up with it because they are hiding money from the tax man and are scared of bringing huge bundles of cash through the airports. can't they just wire it through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 can't they just wire it through? Wiring via western union and such like is bound by SOCPA rules and it is easily tracable. I.e. you go to a western union types to wire £10 you need to prove your name address and ID. If it gets to a bigger amount they need to take enhanced disclosure. So you bring 500K untaxed cash to the western union guy, he has to report to his anti money laundering officer. Who will then report it to the police (to save his own balls). The police will then come and kick your door down and break your legs. While many people travel internationally and carry spending money with them. Once it lands in China it vanishes. The UK asks a China based bank for disclosure the Chinese bank will laugh its kecks off and politely decline. Though it has become smarter these days. You can simply loan the money to somebody using a proxy who has a lot of cash. Who then gets it loaned back sometime later. You can approach the old families for this service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I wouldnt mind. I take all his points on board. But the fact is china, russia, brazil, all the emerging currencies hate the west and westerners. whats to stop then seizing foreign owned assets or deposits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim123 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Where do I buy some Yuan? In China (it is not a convertable currency) tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I wouldnt mind. I take all his points on board. But the fact is china, russia, brazil, all the emerging currencies hate the west and westerners. whats to stop then seizing foreign owned assets or deposits? The same question can be asked of the western powers what stops the government from seizing all of our stuff? Doing this is like killing the golden goose. The biggest old casino in Macau did this all the time. When you win, the croupier will take a 15% tip from your winnings. If you complained you were taken to the back room beaten up and thrown in the sea. When you took your chips to the cage to cash them in the house also took a tip of 20%. People hated this but the old casino was a monopoly only a couple there. Then the American branches moved in and this practice ceased at these places. The old placed continued for a while taking tips. People simply didn't go there any more. Much like the local pizza place which too the pish when they put 3 pieces of peperoni on a 14 inch pizza and asked £12 for it. They tricked me once, but will I ever go there again of course not. I'm not a ford buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 In China (it is not a convertable currency) tim Thats the official line. Go to a bank in Hong Kong or Macau or even Taiwan and you can buy and sell as much of it as you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I wouldnt mind. I take all his points on board. But the fact is china, russia, brazil, all the emerging currencies hate the west and westerners. whats to stop then seizing foreign owned assets or deposits? I think on balance it is probably better to invest in dividend yielding "defensive" foreign assets rather than buying pure currency.. however even then there is a small risk that assets could be seized. I say small because if they actually started doing it hot money would flee quicker than a cat with a bum full of dynamite. That would crash their economies. And they know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Congreve Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Why not buy some gold that you own personally and no government, western or eastern can get it's mitts on. It'll hold it's value better than the yuan too, which is now at the mercy of Chinese inflation. The price has dipped quite nicely in the last couple of week, so it's probably quite a good time to get in too, although the next few weeks could possibly provide better opportunities . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishfinger Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Why not buy some gold that you own personally and no government, western or eastern can get it's mitts on. It'll hold it's value better than the yuan too, which is now at the mercy of Chinese inflation. The price has dipped quite nicely in the last couple of week, so it's probably quite a good time to get in too, although the next few weeks could possibly provide better opportunities . Let's wait for the famous RB contrary indicator first eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishfinger Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 It stopped when the Euro came out and people stuffed their wallets with big denomination Euro notes. I mean £5K was about 3mm thick in your wallet. Money mules people I used to know could bring £500K through commercial air travel extremely easily. So Ken, what are you? Triad or Yakuza? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Where do I buy some Yuan? http://online.wsj.co...IDDLETopStories There are loads of Bureux de Change that sell them if you want cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffneck Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 But the fact is china, russia, brazil, all the emerging currencies hate the west and westerners. whats to stop then seizing foreign owned assets or deposits? I don't buy that , it is more complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan B'Stard MP Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 HKD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Do we have a BoC here in the UK ? You have HSBC! I remember seeing it in London,er 30 years ago. The Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation! Remember? Now it owns the Midland bank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Cavey Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 HKD linked to the USD, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim123 Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Thats the official line. Go to a bank in Hong Kong or Macau or even Taiwan and you can buy and sell as much of it as you want. What use is that to someone living in London? tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14k Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Thats the official line. Go to a bank in Hong Kong or Macau or even Taiwan and you can buy and sell as much of it as you want. Well in HK at least I'm pretty sure you're limited to 25k per month (?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 The same question can be asked of the western powers what stops the government from seizing all of our stuff? Nothing! WTF do you think happened just over two years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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