HK authorities on alert as ATM withdrawals surge

Hong Kong

CASH withdrawals at Hong Kong ATMs have surged, prompting scrutiny from monetary authorities, the banking industry and police amid media reports that mainland Chinese are withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars using up to 50 cards at a time.

For years, China has battled to curb capital outflows, deploying a series of measures to contain them. A move that took effect Jan 1 caps overseas withdrawals using domestic Chinese bank cards.

The gambling hub of Macau last year introduced facial recognition technology at ATMs to target illicit outflows from mainland China, a move that Hong Kong's central bank told Reuters could…