Source: CRI

02-29-2008 17:40

It's been a year since China opened up its RMB market to foreign capital banks. So far, 12 out of 20 foreign capital legal representative banks have completed their makeover and started to operate. So what is the response from customers?

Guo Dandan is a Beijing girl. She says she is satisfied with the environment and services on offer at her foreign capital bank.

"Not like a Chinese capital bank, it's not crowded. I don't need to spend a long time waiting in the queue. I am also impressed by their etiquette and attitude."

Mr Feng is an enterprise customer; he thinks that the service at foreign capital banks is more considerate.

"They will post all the receipts to our company. Chinese capital banks don't offer this kind of service. Each time we need to go fetch them personally."

Mr Li likes the diversified finance products that the foreign capital banks offer, he emphasises that their person to person consultation service is highly humanised.

"My bank manager provides customized finance solutions designed for me. Also, once I buy any finance products, I won't need to spend too much time on tracking them everyday by myself. My bank manager will inform me of the latest performance results of the finance products I purchased."

But Liu Zhiqiang thinks that the charges at foreign capital banks are comparatively high, though their environment and services are pretty good.

"For instance, closing an account costs me 50 yuan. Chinese capital banks won't charge for that."

Foreign capital banks charge a handling fee, which ranges from 50 to 400 yuan, if an account is closed within 3 months of its opening. A management fee will also be charged if a deposit is lower that the minimum requirement. There is also a standard fee for withdrawing money.

Meanwhile, foreign capital banks cannot oversee tax paying businesses because so far their network system is not connected with the Chinese taxation department. This brings considerably inconveniences to Chinese customers.

Chen Yulu is a finance professor at Renmin University.

"It takes time for foreign banks to be localised. Their performance as a whole is fairly good. But how to make their products and services better match the Chinese condition still requires more effort and time."

 

Editor:Zhang Ning