Chinese Bank Eyes E-banking

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 20, 2001

Chinese Bank Eyes E-banking

The competition between domestic and foreign banks may well center around the e-banking market after China enters the World Trade Organization (WTO), saidan official with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Friday.

The ICBC, one of the top four state-owned commercial banks, is ready to face the competition as it has been promoting its e-banking services over recent years, said Ji Meili, general managerof the Electronic Banking Department of the ICBC.

According to the bank source, its electronic banking had produced 3.14 trillion yuan in trade volume by November this year.It had 3.4 million individual customers and 380,000 corporate customers.

The bank's on-line banking trading volume had topped 500 billion yuan in the January-November period, with 110.5 billion yuan of that coming in November alone.

Insiders noted that foreign banks may not compete with domesticcounterparts for setting up more branches in China. Instead they are likely to focus their energies on e-banking, which will put pressure on local banks.

The e-banking services, conducted via telephone, Internet and mobile phone, will not only give customers easier access to the bank but also improve the efficiency of capital management for thebank, said Ji. This is a major to make ICBC an international bank,he said.

So far all ICBC urban branches provide phone service banking, and 90 percent of the urban branches offer on-line services.

ICBC E-banking Trade Volume Tops 3 Trillion Yuan