AFP.com "The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that three major Chinese banks have won approval to enter the US banking market."
Perhaps I am cynical as hell when I say, "How much WORSE can they do?" I mean, all the other major banks are racing for the bottom in customer service, smaller banks are failing left and right, and savings account rates are almost measured in scientific notation because they are so small.
I don't see this as a "well, my bank is going to be Chinese in another few years" type of move... I see it as a "Chinese visiting the US can now access their bank while they're here a lot easier" type of move.
I have dealt with Bank of China, ICBC, and the Ag. Bank of China at local offices in sleepy kunming. Of the 3, only BOC appears to be 'ready for prime time'. The other 2 have humorous, disrespectful code names in China. Which I would not benefit at all from disclosing here However, it supports my personal view that both could ... greatly benefit from improving their management teams. Keepin' it positive for y'all
This kind of statement reminds me of what I read about people saying back in the 80's - how Japan was going to completely take over. They'd bought up landmarks such as the Empire State Building, were hosing us with imported cars, and the(ir) economy was roaring along. Thing is, the bubble went bust, and they've been... well, limping along since. I get a kick out of watching late 80's movies (especially the Robocop series) about how the Japanese corporations had taken over Personally, I don't mind Chinese banks entering the US, especially if they can cough up some decent interest rates. Because as Durandal said, you'd need a microscope to see the interest rates that most checking/savings accounts are paying these days.
I remember those days. What amused me was, while we were all complaining about the Japanese buying America, the Brits had already completed the transaction. Tom
It may well be that US (or EU) banks have come to China, but not in sleepy Kunming. I'd have to check with Beijing or Shanghai about that. Those are the rockin' cities.
Between low interest rates and high and frequent fees, I think a lot of people are paying the bank to keep their money for them these days.
I've been lurking on this board for a while - since leaving mbworld in a huff - but this is an issue to which I can actually add something relevant, so I suppose I should actually start contributing. I work with all three of these banks outside of China, so I'm familiar with what they're doing. The function of the overseas branches of ICBC, AgBank and BoC (and the other big State-owned banks) is primarily to support Chinese companies as they move in to new markets. So, for example, in Australia these banks' primary service is to provide transactional support for Chinese companies investing in Australia, and for Chinese companies buying commodities from Australia. I'd assume that BoC and AgBank are moving into the US for the same reasons, so the average American isn't going to be walking into a Bank of China branch to open an account any time soon. ICBC's purchase of BEA's retail network is interesting, though. I assume that the BEA network in America is mainly serving Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese expats in America. What is interesting about the AgBank and BoC moves is that they clearly think there's a market for the investment services I mentioned above in the US. So it probably signals an upswing in more general Chinese investment in America. Tochatihu - you've got an HSBC branch in Sleepy Kunming, haven't you? Mind you, the last time I was there was 10 years ago, so I'm no expert.
There may well be an HSBC in Kunming, it is based on Hong Kong, yes? Mostly what I know about HSBC is that they invest in several high-profile ecology projects. And make sure to tell you about that. It is very interesting to get the perspective of a bank industry insider here, instead of a mere 'end-user' like me. I can wait in line 1 hour at ICBC to make a withdrawal, though 1/2 hour is more typical. To make a transfer from one Ag bank branch to another, you have to open an account. You can't just hand then money. /end report from end user
Ah, I'm not a bank industry insider; I just do a lot of work with them. HSBC has "Hong Kong" in the roots of its name (and indeed "Shanghai"), and its biggest office, I think, is the HK one, but it's headquartered in London, so I think it counts as a European bank. And yes, they do bang on about their environmental projects, while keeping oddly quiet about the much larger amount of money that they invest in coal and oil projects. Strange, that.... As for your end-user problems, I suspect that they're more a Sleepy Kunming / Yunnan issue than a general ICBC/AgBank issue. There's supposed to be a national interbank transfer system in place now that's at least as effective as the ones in America and Australia. I've certainly had no problem with domestic RMB transfers from bank to bank or city to city recently, but all of those transfers were in Eastern China, and I wouldn't be surprised if the system hasn't been properly rolled out in the South West yet. Mind you, from what I heard a few weeks ago (admittedly from the Yunnan government at an "invest in Yunnan" meeting, so they may be more than a little biased), Kunming isn't as sleepy as it was last time I was there: it sounds like there's a lot happening there now. The last time I was there, the highlight of my trip was mediating an argument which started with the immortal accusation "You're making my underwear smell of kebabs!"
???Kebabs??? Apparently I have been missing a lot of adventure here. While this town strikes me as sleepy, one can also see 4 to 10 construction cranes from any point. This is one rule of thumb for quickly assessing economic activity. The subway is also under construction, You just can't be a City in China w/o one of those. Starbucks arrived about 2 yrs ago. Thus the evidence of non-sleepiness. ___However I can transfer $1000 to the US via BOC much faster than $100 to Mengla via AgBank. Fine, you describe them both as adminstrative wonders elsewhere in CHina. Perhaps the admin staff turnover will arrive here any day now And the current admin staff can take up their new roles as...street kebab vendors?
It was more innocent than it might sound. Actually, can it sound not innocent? After a conference at which the organisers had run out of food, I headed out to find something to eat, and bought some kebabs from a kebab man who had set up on the street near a shop that sold counterfeit underwear. The owner of the shop came out and screamed the sentence in question at him. He suggested that she close her door to stop the smell going in, and then she started getting all mental and racist, screaming various unpleasant anti-muslim and anti-uighur things at him. That was when I thought I'd better intervene: I pointed out that one of my friends was the China brand manager for the brand of fake underwear that she was selling, so she should perhaps apologise, go back into her shop, and close the door. I got some free kebabs as a result. It sounds like there is a lot happening. And yes, a city isn't a city without a subway in China. But yes, the banks outside of the East Coast cities are still kind of slow, although they're better than they used to be: I remember once in Tianjin in my youth taking four hours to withdraw some cash from a BoC branch. But that was a very long time ago.
