UnionPay overseas ATM withdrawal limit

[mungouk]

Not the most interesting topic, but it took me quite a while to get to the bottom of this, so here we go in case it's of use to others... Maybe it's common knowledge, but I had no idea.

 

Since being locked-down in the UK I've been working "online in China", and so my salary has been going into one of my Chinese bank accounts.

 

For the last few months my solution to getting hold of this money had been to go to local ATMs which accept UnionPay cards (those run by Barclays Bank in my case), draw out £500 at a time, and pay the cash into my UK account. Recently the ATMs started refusing to give me cash.
 

To cut a long story short, it turns out that UnionPay have set an overseas withdrawal limit of ¥100k per year for all their cards.

 

https://www.unionpayintl.com/en/serviceCenter/cardUsingInstructions/813.shtml

 

Quote

In accordance with relevant requirements of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, an individual withdrawing cash overseas with domestic bank cards is allowed to withdraw a maximum of amount equivalent to RMB10,000 every day with each card, and is allowed to withdraw a maximum of amount equivalent to RMB100,000 in total every year for all bank cards (including supplementary cards) issued under them. In case that the yearly cap aforementioned is reached, no further cash withdrawal overseas is allowed any more in the current year and the next year. Please click here for details.

 

It seems a bit brutal that they would also prevent withdrawals for the current year and the next year as well. 

 

 

 

[anonymoose]

As far as I know, this was spurred by the trade war with the USA. They are trying to stop the outflow of capital from China. It is not just the case with bank cards. From what I understand, it is much more difficult for Chinese people to get money of the country now than it was previously.

[Saxondale]

Also worth mentioning that banks have introduced a new regulation a few weeks ago requiring foreigners to go in and show their latest residence permit or else they can freeze your account. This has already happened to a few people i know. 

[Baby Charlie]

I would like to add that I had to update my new passport number to 3 banks (ICBC,SPD,BOC) and had 3 very different experiences. ICBC and BOC just updated the account information and it was done in 15 minutes or so. But both banks needed approval from Beijing Headquarters to do this, I thought is was strange but I am a foreigner. SPD froze my account and then would only unfreeze it with an official document from the tax office with my tax number on it and a red chop. I asked if this was because I am an American and was told that they are freezing foreigners bank accounts to verify that they are here living and working legally to include paying taxes. My SPD account is the card that is linked to my taobao account so I did need it to work but I got so frustrated with this ridiculous process that I tried to close the account, this was my third attempt to unfreeze the account as the kept asking for more information each time. They told me absolutely no activity can be done on this account until the necessary documents are provided, so I could not just walk away and leave 12,000 RMB in their bank. The point of my post is that weird banking regulations are being introduced and arbitrarily enforced and this is only the beginning of the banking nonsense. So now they are asking for official tax documents and residence permits, what will be next?

[889]

Signing in, I just got this message from my bank. It sounds like reverification is for everyone, Chinese and foreigners.

 

"尊敬的客户：
根据《中华人民共和国反洗钱法》、《金融机构客户身份识别和客户身份资料及交易记录保存管理办法》等法律法规和监管规定，我行现开展个人客户身份信息完善工作。个人客户身份信息包括但不限于客户的姓名、性别、国籍、职业、工作单位、住所地或者工作单位地址、联系电话、身份证件或者身份证明文件的种类、号码和证件有效期限等。
对于在我行留存身份证件已过有效期限以及身份信息存在不完整、不准确等情况的客户，可持本人有效身份证件前往我行任一营业网点或者通过我行手机银行查询并更新完善相关信息。
根据相关监管要求，对于在我行留存的身份证件已过有效期限6个月以上或有效期信息不完整等情况，我行将自2020年7月2 日起中止办理您主动发起的账户交易。"

 

[mungouk]

Hmmm, I am now really glad I renewed my passport a year early before arriving in China, rather than waiting until this month.

 

It's particularly unhelpful of them to be clamping down on this stuff while so many people are stranded outside China and can't get back, though...