Snapshot: Depositors look at charge of small accounts calmly

The plan that CCB’s Shenzhen branch will charge management fee on small accounts from July 1 this year has been released for more than half a month. What are the responses of depositors in Shenzhen, and how will the branch proceed with the task? The reporter makes the following special interview.

Depositors: Consolidating similar accounts and closing abundant bankbooks
“Miss, please transfer the money from these bankbooks to one single bankbook and then close those empty bankbooks,” said an old man who was interviewed by the reporter while going through the account closing procedures in Jingyuan sub-branch of CCB Shenzhen branch on May 12.

The man told the reporter that he had carefully read the Public Announcement issued by CCB on newspapers and related reports as well and checked all the bankbooks in his family. “I find altogether 13 bankbooks and now want to close 6. The ‘free lunch’ offered by banks will end sooner or later. I take this opportunity to consolidate the previously disperse accounts and close those abundant ones,” said he.

While talking about the “small account” with the reporter, the man started chatting with the bank lobby manager on the “subscription fund with specific term and amount”. As a result, after closing the accounts he opened a fund account. He said that “from now on each month I will take part of my pension to subscribe fund.”

It is said that after the CCB Shenzhen branch disclose it will cut the interest rate of and charge management fee on current accounts wide attention from the media has been drawn. In general, the depositors seem relatively calm and most of them choose to consolidate their accounts and close the abundant ones.

Statistics show that some accounts are being closed while new accounts are being opened.

CCB Shenzhen branch has been closely monitoring the changes in depositors at each outlet since the Public Announcement was made. According to statistics, from May 1 to 15, the branch closed 8,987 small accounts (with amount of less than RMB500), with the daily average being 599 which rose by more than 300 compared with those days before the release of the Announcement. During the same period of time the branch opened 37,124 new individual accounts with a net increase of 28,147.

“Statistics show that some accounts are being closed while new accounts are being opened,” said a senior executive of the branch, “we are trying to guide the customers to open account when there is real need. We are analyzing the new accounts, and the initial result shows that the number of such kinds of account as wealth management and fund is increasing while the savings deposits maintain the momentum of stable growth. Over the half month since the release of the Public Announcement the individual current savings deposit has increased by over RMB20 million.”

Depositors: It is not so difficult to have a “medium account”

In the Chengjian sub-branch of CCB Shenzhen branch, the reporter encountered a depositor. According to the depositor, he is a vendor in the nearby community and deposits money every two or three days in the sub-branch. He was not surprised when the reporter told him about the upcoming management charge on small account. He just asked “how much is taken as small account and how to calculate the daily average?” The bank’s lobby manager answered that “small account refers to the individual current deposit account with a daily average deposit of less than RMB500 and the daily average is calculated by adding up the daily balance of a certain account within one year and then dividing the total by 365 days. If it is too complicated for you, you just check your account. Once the amount is over RMB500 it will not be taken as a small account.” The depositor smiled and said: “it is not so difficult to have a ‘medium account’.”

The 95533 telephone banking center of CCB Shenzhen branch told the reporter that each day it receives more than 200 calls asking questions mainly about how to calculate the daily average deposit, how to collect the account management fee and how to consolidate the previously disperse accounts.

CCB: Consolidating resources to provide better services

The initiation of charging small accounts by CCB Shenzhen branch was once the headlines of major Chinese media. An executive of the branch told the reporter: “we keep a close eye on media’s coverage and the response of customers. Banks should focus on providing quality services. The purpose of charging small accounts is to guide the customers to use their accounts reasonably, raise efficiency and pool resources to provide them with better services.”

According to the executive, while preparing for charging small accounts the branch has taken a series of major measures to raise the core competitiveness of personal banking services, including holding presentations on and establishing the lecturer group of personal business, trying to reach the personal services out to each quality target customer and community through lectures and saloons; expanding large cooperation projects on personal business to promote business growth; establishing the Happy Investor wealth management platinum card club to offer personalized services for VIP customers; developing an integrated marketing mechanism and combining traditional services with active marketing to expand VIP customer base.

The branch also launched the service quality contest with the theme of “new challenges and new services”, job skills contest and performance evaluation of star staff among its counter staffs to improve their expertise and efficiency so as to offer the customers more convenient, efficient and better services. (Source: CCB News)