Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that, according to the numbers released by Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), last year there was around CA$43.6 billion (around HK$169 billion, or US$34.6 billion) in money transferred from the Hong Kong banking system to the Canadian banking system via EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). This is a record high since 2012. The total is the equivalent of moving around two percent of all of Hong Kong’s savings accounts. This 2020 amount represents a 10 percent increase from 2019, or 46 percent increase from 2016. Hong Kong has one of the largest Canadian overseas communities. There are around 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong. According to Canadian Equitable Bank, since June 2020 when the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect, the bank saw a high increase of savings funds flowing from Hong Kong. This number only includes transactions larger than CA$10,000. Reuters interviewed many immigration advisors, lawyers and real estate agents and found a lot of Hong Kong residents are eager to start their new life in Canada as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions are relaxed. They intend to bring millions of Canadian Dollars’ worth of wealth with them. Britain and Australia are two other hot destinations.
Source: RFI Chinese, March 26, 2021
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