Bank Transfer To China

[faluang]

Hello people, I need your advice and comments

I opened a bank account at ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) approximatly 3 weeks ago, I think it was the 21st of september.

They gave me a SWIFT/BIC code and an ATM card the same day.

Last week, on the 2nd of october I transfered money to this bank account.

Today, 10th of october the money is still not on my account.

I went to an ICBC bank today and explained them my situation, they said my bank transfer is delayed because of the national holiday. Is this correct?!

I did check over and over again if I entered the correct information, and yes I did.

On the paper the bank gave me while opening my bank account states:

"If you are expecting EUR remittance from your client, Please advice your client to give the following instructions to his/her bank, who will hande the remittance

Intermadiary Bank:

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Frankfurt/Main

SWIFT BIC: XXXXXXXX

Account with Institution:

Industrial and Commercial Bank Of China

Zhejiang Provincial Branch

SWIFT BIC: XXXXXXXX

My account number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

I made my transfer to the Account with Institution by internet banking... and explained this to the ICBC bank I visited today.

They said that I indeed have to send it to this bank, and not to the bank in Germany.

Is that right?!

I am very confused, and anxiously waiting for my money to be on my account here, in China.

Can someone explain me what's gone wrong here, if I ever will receive my money and if I did something wrong?

Thank you

[889]

I'm not sure from your post exactly what you've done.

But it's not unusual for banks just about everywhere in the world to find excuses to hold onto your money as long as they can and delay crediting wire transfers to your account.

Further, while your branch of ICBC may be open this week, the staff that handles incoming remittances may still be enjoying themselves at Huangshan.

In short, you're going to have to wait till next week.

If it's not credited then, you'll have to ask the bank to start tracing the remittance. It's not that unusual for funds to go missing, but ultimately you will get your money.

Obviously, in choosing a bank, how efficiently it handles remittances and such should be a prime factor.

Unfortunately, "efficient" and "Chinese bank" aren't terms usually found in conjunction.

[faluang]

To clarify:

I've done a swift transfer from Belgium directly to my bank in China (and not to the intermediary bank, read my post above) the 2nd of october, today, the money is still not on my account.

Should I make transfers to the intermediary bank that is in Europe, or was I right and should I transfer it directly to my bank in China?

Like I written before, I went to an ICBC bank today and explained them my situation including that i've transfered the money directly to the bank in China, and not to the intermediary bank. They said that's the right thing to do.

But is that true? I am confused and worried...

Edited October 10, 2009 at 05:05 AM by faluang

[gato]

The banks were on holiday between Oct 1 - 8. During the holiday, they could only process transfers within the same bank, and not any transfers between banks (including international transfers). Try checking again next week.

[whereishunter]

Another thing to do is to check if there are any Euros in your bank account. As ATM's only show RMB.

As last year a friend of mine had the same problem, waiting for money to show up in his bank account. The money was in his account but in Euros not RMB. So he had to take the Euros out of his account (in China) and then change it to RMB.

It does sound a bit strange but the bank did not automatically change the currency over and he had to physically do it in China. Anyway good luck.

[gerri]

Having the account hold different currencies (not automatically changed) is pretty interesting...

More pertinent: It commonly takes a week (at least) to get money from Germany to Austria, even though it's all in Euro, so it's probably true that it's too early to really worry.

[889]

"It does sound a bit strange . . . ."

Not really strange. Back in the days when the RMB was a weak currency, folks'd want their dollars or whatever to remain dollars or whatever after they transferred them to China, converting to RMB only as needed.

So unless the OP's transfer instructions covered the issue, she should expect a call from the bank asking whether her euros should be converted to RMB.

[gato]

So unless the OP's transfer instructions covered the issue, she should expect a call from the bank asking whether her euros should be converted to RMB.

Usually, the bank would just keep the foreign currency as is, unless asked by the account owner to convert into RMB. They wouldn't actively call you to ask.

[Senzhi]

I also did a transaction last year from a Belgian account to my ICBC account. Swift rejected it with the claim that the account number should be 19 digits. The funds never even reached China.

My ICBC account has only 16 digits ... and by high and low ICBC insists that should be sufficient as Swift only needs the BIC to transfer it to the main ICBC in China, which then subsequently transfers it to the right local account (following the account number).

I can follow ICBC's argument. Nevertheles, Swift rejected it categorically out of some kind of policy.

So, for me, an international transfer to ICBC is simply not possible, and I started to transfer to my Bank of China account (which has the by Swift requested 19 digits).

Needless to say that Swift did charge international transaction fees ... twice: for the transfer to and back between my Belgian account and Swift ... which is also located in Belgium.

Being an IT company, Swift thinks and acts too much as a bank ...