Super-rich seek an exit plan as Xi cracks down on elites

Billionaires are notoriously hard to track. It's no surprise - the easier they and their assets are to find, the easier they are to tax. But by all accounts, the number of uber-wealthy people in China is in decline. Of the world's estimated 2,640 billionaires, at least 562 are thought to be in China, according to Forbes, down from 607 last year.

- Amy Hawkins

• 562 Number of billionaires estimated to be in China
• $50k Official amount individuals can transfer out of the country each year
• 19.5bn Shortfall in dollars of balance of payments, an indicator of capital flight

With crackdowns on financiers and a roiling political climate, many of China's rich people are looking to move their money, and themselves, out of the country.

Officially, individuals can transfer just $50,000 out of China each year. But in practice wealthy people have a range of official and unofficial ways of shifting their funds, whether through money exchanges in Hong Kong, where controls do not apply, or funnelling cash into overseas businesses.

In August, police in Shanghai arrested five people at an immigration consultancy, including the company's boss, on suspicion of facilitating illegal foreign exchange in excess of 100m yuan ($13.7m). In a media report, the police said "illegal foreign exchange trading seriously disrupts the order of the country's financial market".