Chen Kunde: China Merchants Bank

China Merchants Bank: The report by China Merchants Bank and the consulting firm Bain Co. in China reflects uncertainties about abrupt shifts in an economy in which growth slowed last year to 7.8 per cent from the past decade's double-digit rates, according to Times Colonist. Investor attitudes are being influenced by "the political environment and possible changes in tax policy," said Chen Kunde, director of China Merchants' wealth management business. They are "switching their focus from deriving more profits to protecting their existing wealth." BEIJING, China - China's richest people are stepping up investment in U.S. real estate and other foreign assets as they try to preserve their fortunes in the face of a fast-changing economy, a report said Tuesday. Beijing is trying to shift the basis of growth to domestic consumption and services, reducing reliance on exports and construction that made fortunes for earlier entrepreneurs. Communist leaders have pledged to use taxes and social spending to narrow the huge and politically sensitive gulf between China's small elite and its poor majority. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.