Useless bank notes apparently...
Moving money to and from China is a long and slow process, hindered by a lot of rules and restrictive currency exchange limits. I originally opened an account with HSBC as they have a presence in both the UK and China and they assured me that:
– “Yes, you’ll be able to transfer funds to China via online banking without any fees”.
Once I’d opened the account, they told me that:
– “No, you can’t transfer funds to China via online banking. You’ll have to use a SWIFT transfer and pay the fee”.
As a result, moving money to China requires a phone call to my bank in the UK to set up the transfer, then another call when it arrives to get the fee removed. They don’t reply to online banking queries or accept calls from Skype, so the cost of the phone call almost negates the fee I’m contesting.
Their 24-hour helpline has a pre-recorded message that it’s only able to help callers between 8.30am GMT to 5pm GMT…
Once the money arrives in China it goes into a GBP account. Due to more banking regulations in China I’m not allowed to transfer British Pounds into my Chinese account online or over the phone, so have to visit the branch with my passport.
Once I got to the branch I was told I couldn’t do it electronically there either. My Relationship Manager suggested I withdraw the pounds as cash, then immediately deposit them again and they’d waive the transaction fee for accessing my own money.
I’m directed to a window whilst the manager hovers in the background, watching the proceedings:
Me: “How much foreign currency can I withdraw?”
Cashier: “The maximum per day is $10,000”
Me: “Great, I’ll withdraw £6,000 please.”
The relationship manager nods confidently.
Required accessories when watching Dragon's Den on TV
Lots of forms, stamps, passports and signatures later the manager heads to the safe and returns with a newish looking stack of £50 notes which I leave on the counter between us, like an inferior version of Dragon’s Den.
Me: “I’d like to deposit £6000 please.”
The relationship manager nods confidently.
Cashier: “The maximum you can deposit is $5,000”. (Just over £3,000)
The relationship manager nods a little less confidently.
Me (looking at the manager): “That would have been good to know in advance…OK, I’d like to deposit £3,000 please.”
I hand her back the pile of notes that has been sitting between us the whole time.
Cashier: “Those notes aren’t in good enough condition for us to accept…”
Me (looking at the manager, who is backing away): “…but they’re good enough quality for you to give out?”
...rather like Snagglepuss
There’s no point being annoyed with the bank teller, as she’s just the messenger, so I ask her to call the relationship manager back. He’s suddenly ‘In a meeting’ so I ask her to call the branch manager. The relationship manager is suddenly not in a meeting, but I persist with wanting to talk to the branch manager.
The branch manager appears surprisingly quickly and after some discussion we sit together and weed out any notes that appear to have been even slightly used. This comes to a total of £2800, so I add ten brand new £20 notes and hand them back to him.
He looks at them warily, then hands them to the teller to count. She then spends some minutes passing every individual note through a scanner to check that I’m not trying to return any counterfeit notes she may just have given me…
I haven’t moved from the cashiers window but still have to hand over my passport again to prove I’m the same person as 20 minutes ago.
This is all starting to take rather a long time, so I suggest the branch manager waits with me. This speeds up the process considerably.
With the first half deposited, I’m left walking the streets with £3,000 in cash, until I can deposit the rest the next day.
I guess the lesson learned is always to check every note before leaving the cashier’s window.
In unrelated news, I also learned that black market money changing rates are quite good…
Other banks
I had a look round some Chinese banks to consider opening a replacement account. In one I was offered a choice of gifts if I opened a Premium Bank account. The choice is between some Snoopy Tupperware, a 20g pure gold ingot, or a double pack of dish-washing sponges. Decisions, Decisions…
Any thoughts on competent Chinese banks would be appreciated.
Exciting gift options for opening an account
I use Bank of Communications. They are equally frustrating (although rejecting the bills they handed is a nice touch).
Thanks for the tip. I’ve also had positive reports of Merchant Bank.
Wow, that was even worse than the version you left in a comment on my blog. Is there no end to the mafan in this country?
Wow! I feel your pain. we use HSBC. when we opened our joint account they neglected to tell us that we both had to be present, with our passports, to withdraw money from that account. My husband arrived here before me so he could not access the whole lot of money in the account, since ATM cards could not be applied for until I joined him also. Then when I arrived we immediately went to the branch (before I had to turn over my passport to government) and opened two solo accounts off of the joint account. We also applied for ATM cards at that time. After I handed over my passport we found out that we neglected to transfer any money to the solo accounts!!! UGH! We had to wait until we both had passports (you know how long that can take), go back to the bank together to transfer funds from our joint to our solo accounts. Oh, only one ATM card was sent to our address here in Beijing. My husbands was sent to the US. It was/is a mess! It is a good thing we had a US account that we could access (while hit with fees) to live on while we were going through all of this. The upside is, they have never declined our notes:)
Looking at my statement, it turns out they also charge a small fee for transferring money within China. Time for a new bank.
Pingback: Zooadventurer (@conradzoo)
I’ve heard similar frustrating stories from friends who’ve stayed in China. Really not good.
Check out Citic Bank. Personally haven’t used it for transfers yet, but think they have good International Transfer stuff..
Thanks! I’ll have a closer look
Pingback: Jacob Yount (@jlmade)
ICBC isn’t too bad.. Nah, who am I kidding. I had to call my lawye TO THE damn branch, cuz they wanted my passport, when the rule is you don’t need a passport to withdraw USD if it’s already USD. The thing was, they refused to give me 100usd, till I told them the actual amount in the account in USD to the exact figure. They said we cannot tell you, using your own card and pin number, but you can go to the ATM and check their and come back with a new number.
But the bank will close by that time, so come tomorrow with a passport. Of course, I had nothing to do, so I just sat on the counter, refuse to move, called the manager who called the bank guard, and I called the police and my lawyer.
End result, they gave me 100 USD at 535 pm (bank closes at 5) and the main bank manager had to check with the phone banking hotline to confirm that the rule what i stated about not needing a passport was correct.
You can imagine the looks I get from everyone in the bank when I walk in there now. Haha. Love it.
Did you ever find a decent bank in China?
China Merchant Bank have always been good, along with the larger branches of Bank of China.
So you’d say them over ICBC? ICBC was looking the best option online…
ICBC have the best English online banking (apart from the dodgy software that tries to run 24/7), but most banking actions in China seem to require you to show your passport in person each time. ICBC partner with Bank of America, which is useful for Americans.
CMB have the best reputation for decent branch staff. H uses CMB and the fraud protection is excellent.
Other reviews on Reddit r/China
Thanks.
Pingback: Theodora Sutcliffe (@escapeartistes)