Source: CCTV.com

07-29-2008 14:53

Special Report:   2008 Beijing Olympic Games

China's major banks say big investments have been made to provide efficient financial services during the Olympic Games.

With an extra half million people expected in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, China's banking industry has worked to give the city's guests easy access to cash.

Officials from Monday's press briefing said Chinese banks have been preparing for the Beijing Summer Olympics for 3 years. Commercial banks in Beijing have all worked to upgrade their services to satisfy the diverse needs of both domestic and foreign customers during the Games.

Yang Zaiping, 29th Olympic Games spokesperson, said, "We have improved our banking service structure to satisfy the needs of the journalists and tourists during the Games. Some banks have even set up temporary outlets at sports venues. So we should be able to meet almost all the demand during the Games."

Officials say the country's banking industry has been gearing up for some time now. The industry has rolled out more ATMs, and most of the machines can accept Visa, MasterCard and other big international banking cards. Some banks have also strengthened their staff training, so they can offer multilingual services... and even sign language services.

Yang Zaiping said, "We have prepared a sufficient number of bank staff in the host cities. Almost all the outlets have people who can speak English or offer sign language services. They can satisfy all sorts of needs."

Yue Yi, GM of Personal Banking Dept, BOC, said, "Bank of China outlets in major Chinese cities can accept 16 kinds of major currencies, including the US dollar, pound, euro, Hong Kong dollar, won"

Nearly all the banking outlets have prepared their own power supplies or emergency service plans to ensure safe operations during the Games.

A single bank hotline has also been established. People only need to dial 12345 for banking service consultations or complaints in 8 languages.

 

Editor:Yang Jie