I GOT a phone call from one of my three banks last week, trying to convince me to get a loan that I didn’t need.
Now, that’s not the purpose of this piece; telemarketing is part and parcel of living in China. I regularly get text messages and phone calls from various institutions trying to get me to agree to something or another.
The issue I have today is with the fact that after several years in China, I have had to open bank accounts with three different banks just to suit my employer at the time. While this was the case in Australia in the 20th century, electronic transfers have made interbank deposits cost-free and instant so that wage-earners need not suffer the hassle of banking with a different bank just to receive their paycheck.
When I talked to one of my colleagues about this issue, they complained about the fact that they had problems with different branches of the same bank, depending on what province they were in. They talked about trying to transfer some of their foreign exchange out of their account, but because their account was opened in Beijing, not Shenzhen, the Shenzhen branch could not do anything about it.
It boggles my mind that such a situation still exists in a modern economy in 2017. I’ve even had problems trying to top up the credit on my cell phone while outside of Guangdong, a service which now can only be done online because stores no longer support it.
I am sympathetic to the idea that the Chinese Central Government should maintain some control over financial matters, but surely this does not work at the provincial level. Given how much people move around, as well as the inherent flow of capital around the country, perhaps it is now time for the Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with the People’s Bank of China, to reconsider how these inter-provincial barriers impact finances for people and the economy. With the Big 3 of the telecommunications industry dropping intercity charges in the last few months, this could be a good opportunity for the banking industry to consider similar reforms.
(The author is an Australian working as an English editor in Shenzhen.)