China has claimed initial success in the launch of a homebanking system in central China's Hunan Province, which allows clients to receive banking services at home or in any other places.

Jointly developed by the Hunan Branch of the Bank of China and Hunan Telecom, the homebanking system provides a variety of banking services including financial information accessing, account management, home shopping and bills settlement, funds transferring, loan application, and foreign exchange trading, according to Zhang Xiufa, director of the Hunan Postal and Telecommunications Administration and also a deputy to the Ninth National People's Congress.

Users of the electronic system have exceeded 100,000 so far, and the bank is expecting to make more than 30 million yuan ($3.61 million) in annual profit from the new system, Zhang said.

Homebanking was first launched in Hong Kong in May 1998, by the Hong Kong-based Bank of China Group.

Zhang said electronic banking has huge potential in China due to its low input and high profitability. "Homebanking is also very safe since it has strong backing from digital technologies," he added. (China Daily)