Top Biz News

Customer sues bank for interest calculation method

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-29 15:45

A bank customer has lodged a suit against the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), alleging that the country's largest bank takes liberties with the calendar and deliberately ignores dates falling on the 31st of a month in its calculation of interest payments.

Contrary to other banks such as the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank, who all calculate deposit interests on a day basis, the ICBC calculates deposit interests based on a 30-day month.

A customer surnamed Duan is suing the ICBC for failing to credit his savings account with more than 100 yuan of interest.

The case has not yet come to court, but the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday that the ICBC uses a double standard. When counting customer deposits, the bank uses a 30-day month but when it counts interests on loans to customers, it works on a 31-day basis.

The bank claimed that such practices comply with central bank regulations because domestic banks are allowed to choose between the two different calculation methods.

As China opens up the banking industry, experts said discrepancies in bank services will become more apparent.

Customers should be more sophisticated and shop around when choosing a bank. Banks should respect customers' rights to full information and strive to provide better and more transparent services, they added.