HONG KONG, Oct 12 Reuters China has for the first time issued a notice prohibiting domestic brokerages and their overseas units from taking on new mainland clients for offshore trading, according to an official document seen by Reuters and confirmed by four sources.

New investments by existing mainland clients are also to be strictly monitored to prevent investors from bypassing China39;s foreign exchange controls, said the notice. The news was first reported by Reuters.

The actions, which will restrict capital outflows, come as faltering growth for the world39;s secondlargest economy has spurred investment overseas, weighing on the yuan and prompting authorities to ramp up efforts to stabilise the currency.

The yuan, one of Asia39;s worstperforming currencies, has weakened 5.5 this year as China39;s postpandemic recovery quickly lost steam and the dollar climbed due to interest rate differentials and geopolitical uncertainty globally.

That has forced authorities to unveil a slew of measures in recent months to stem its decline.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission CSRC has told brokerages to stop offering securities trading from offshore accounts such as Hong Kong to new mainland investors, according to a Sept. 28 notice issued by its Shanghai unit.

Activities now considered illegal include crossborder securities broking, securities lending, fund sales and investment consulting, according to the notice.

It was not clear when the new directive was effective,…