BEIJING (AFP) - China has tightened rules on how much cash cardholders can withdraw overseas in a bid to clamp down on money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion, authorities said Saturday (Dec 30).

The annual limit will be set at 100,000 yuan (S$20,556) per person from Monday - no matter how many cards a person has.

Currently, there is an annual ATM cap of 100,000 yuan for each separate card, but there is nothing to stop users withdrawing many times this amount using multiple cards.

The new rules will "prevent law breakers from withdrawing a large amount of cash with different cards from different banks," the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said according to state news agency Xinhua.

Anyone exceeding the limit will be barred from withdrawing cash overseas for the remainder of the year and the following year.

The move comes as China has struggled with capital flight and tightened capital controls this year to stem the outflow of money.