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BEIJING--China has tightened the cap on money Chinese bank and credit card holders can withdraw overseas, in its latest effort to discourage capital outflows.

China's foreign-exchange regulator placed a new annual cap on cash withdrawals using China UnionPay Co. bank cards, a UnionPay official said Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a representative for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said this cap also applied to withdrawals using Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Chinese banks, adding that card holders who hit the limit will be added to a watch list by China UnionPay and won't be able to withdraw more cash outside of the country.

UnionPay card holders can withdraw up to 50,000 yuan ($7,865) outside of China during the last three months of this year, and the amount will be capped at 100,000 yuan for the full year in 2016, the UnionPay official said Tuesday.

The cap is in addition to an existing 10,000 yuan daily withdrawal ceiling, part of China's curbs on the amount of money that can flow across its borders.

The measure is the latest effort by Beijing to scrutinize capital outflows. The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said earlier this month that its foreign-exchange reserves fell by $93.9 billion, the biggest monthly drop ever, after the bank surprised the market on Aug. 11 with its decision to devalue the yuan by nearly 2%.

Write to Pei Li at pei.li@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2015 06:20 ET (10:20 GMT)

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