The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has asked for cooperation from multinationals, including Sony, BMW, Daimler, Shell, Pfizer, IBM and Visa, to manage and control the flow of capital out of the country. The request was made on SAFE’s website after Director Pan Gongsheng addressed a delegation of foreign businesses in China at a symposium in Beijing. “A stable and good foreign exchange market is in line with the common interests of regulators and market players and it requires joint efforts from all sides,” Pan Gongsheng was quoted as saying. The meeting came as many foreign businesses are complaining, albeit privately, about Beijing’s tightened controls and vetting of outbound remittances and payments as it attempts to stem the flow of cash out of the country after the yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar. The Chinese government says it is merely implementing existing rules and regulations and it has not imposed any fresh capital account control measures. Jacob Parker, Vice President of the U.S.-China Business Council, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) that Beijing’s capital account controls have affected the dividend payments of its members. “Our companies fully understand the rationale behind capital controls is to ease the downward pressure on the yuan and they support that goal. Unfortunately, these restrictions are impacting not only capital account transactions, but also current account transactions,” Parker said. Joerg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told the SCMP that the meeting had been extremely encouraging. “Pan is very keen to know the technical issues that foreign industries have encountered in China,” he said. Many analysts expect the restrictions to stay in place for some time given the major uncertainties facing global markets.