Opening a bank account

[rmdavis82]

I want to open a bank account in Beijing, mostly because I don't like keeping a lot of cash at home. I just want to use the account for withdrawals (primarily atm withdrawals). I also would like a bank that has branches nation wide. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, do you know what kind of fees are charged (if any)?

[jbiesnecker]

If you pick one of the big four--Bank of China, Construction Bank, Agriculture Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank--they're all going to be about the same. I have a Construction Bank account, they charge 2RMB to withdraw from a non-network ATM. There are fees for inter-bank transfers and such but you indicate that you're mostly going to be using it for ATM withdrawls, so that shouldn't be a big deal.

My recommendation is to see which banks/ATMs you pass most while going about your daily routine, and pick the one that has the most convienent locations.

One thing you should be aware of is that unlike in most Western countries even if a bank has a branch in another part of the country it doesn't mean that you'll be able to do your banking there. My wife had a Changchun bank account and lost her card while we were travelling and had to wait until she got back to Changchun to do anything about it, despite having plenty of ICBCs where we were. They told her that they could only handle local accounts.

But, if you're just needing to withdraw, you can use any 银联 ATM, which is basically every ATM in the country.

[smalldog]

I recommend China Merchants Bank (招商银行 www.cmbchina.com). It offers an excellent standard of customer service with a civilised queueing system, free sweets while you're waiting and helpful, courteous staff. The online banking is great and can be used to transfer money to any bank account in China. The fee for using ATMs in other provinces is 0.5% -- half of what many other banks charge. There's supposed to be a 2 RMB fee for using other banks' ATMs but I found that this was rarely applied.

There are branches in most major cities. One of the Beijing branches is next to the south gate of Qinghua.

[LFCLOUDS]

Same thing happened to me.

Arrived in Shanghai to find that I couldnt get any money from Guizhou....bad times.

[mr.stinky]

i had one of the instructers at uni help me open an account with bank of china.

they are apparently everywhere, and have atm's all over the country....supposedly

interconnected....that have an english option. plus an online banking system with

an english tab that i've not tried yet.

account setup took 10 minutes, with only two short forms to fill out. this was all

done at the regular service window. easy....with chinese-speaking assistance.

my bank in the us will wire funds at no charge. BoC charges us$10 to receive.

i don't know about ATM fees yet.

$us wired funds and $us cash deposits are maintained in separate sub-accounts.

you will have to exchange for chinese currency before you can withdraw. exchange

rate for wired funds is slightly higher than for cash. you will not have access to

yuan at the atms until you convert, which must be done at the teller window.

the teller will give you a sheet detailing wire instructions, but these are incomplete.

it lists only the BofC receiving bank. you must also provide a correspondent bank in

your home country. (bank name, address, ABA routing number, SWIFT code, and

account number if any) I used Bank of China in NYC, transfer took about 5 business

days.

i also tried construction bank, which has an english account sign-up form, but was

told they are not set up for intl wire transactions. i'm sure i misunderstood, but at

that point i was limited to less than a dozen words.

[mi.g.c]

mr stinky... Do you mean you can open a Reminbi account in Bank of China and wire transfer US currency then have it converted to Reminbi so it can be placed to your account? Or did you open a US account in Bank of China? Sorry for the confusion

[mr.stinky]

when i arrived, i had $500 cash, plus another 800 yuan that i had converted at the

beijing airport.

i opened the account with $500 which is held in the account as $us. specifically

sub-account #11. within the week, i had my bank wire us$2500, which was

received as us$ currency (after a $10 incoming wire fee) into sub-account #10.

these are kept separate due to the different exchange rates applied.

be sure your bank knows you are transferring $us, and not to convert. BofC will

deposit the wired funds into your account in the original currency. then they will

convert specific amounts when you request. exchange rate for cash is about 8.00,

rate for wired funds about 8.10

when i had exhausted my original 800 yuan, i went to the bank, and had them

convert $1000 from sub-account #11 into yuan, which goes into sub-account #0

at that point, my balance was:

(00) 8105

(10) 1490

(11) 500

i was now able to use my new ATM card to access the 8105 yuan.

be aware that their accounting system is a little different. when they update your

little yellow book ("passbook of savings accounts), they only update the numbers

of the accounts that have changed, and the balances all appear in the same column.

you have to check the sub-account numbers in the left column. when you convert

$ from account #10, they will print a new #10 balance, but not a new #11. then you

will be wondering what happened to the cash that was first deposited.

[mi.g.c]

thanks a lot =) i was checking the branches of bank of china and i saw here. maybe i'll ask them if i can open an account here and put the money here so i don't have to open an account in china and make the wire transfers. but i'll keep in mind what you said. thanks again.