Life will get even harder for foreign firms in China

By Don Weinland

In the span of a few days in September 2023, word spread that two businessmen working for global firms were not permitted to leave China. One of them, the head of a Chinese investment-banking division at Nomura, a Japanese bank, appeared to have been snagged in a corruption investigation. He had been hit with an “exit ban”, meaning he could travel within the country but could not leave. Days later news broke that a senior executive at Kroll, a due-diligence firm, was subject to similar conditions. According to the Wall Street Journal, he has been stuck in China since July.