Banking

China mulls better regulation of bank service pricing

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-11 09:12

BEIJING - China's banking regulator said Tuesday that it is considering revising the bank service pricing regulation so bank costumers might enjoy better services.

A draft version of the revised regulation has been sent to China's commercial banks and local price monitoring offices, said China Banking Regulatory Commission in a statement on its website.

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Several Chinese commercial banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is the country's largest lender, raised their cross-bank same-city automatic teller machine (ATM) withdrawal fees last month, which invited opposition among the bankcard holders.

According to the draft, any changes in service pricing should be prominently announced five months before its implementation, and if the customers objected, the bank should stop the service rather than forcing them to accept the service and the price change overtly or in a disguised form.

"It is necessary to inform the clients about the price change in advance, so that they could have time to make their decisions or prepare for the change," said Guo Tianyong, head of the China Banking Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

The draft version of the new regulation, which was jointly prepared by CBRC and the National Development and Reform Commission, would also seek public opinion after the two departments receive feedback from commercial banks, said the CBRC.