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laowaiguoren
Squeeker
Joined: Sep 22, 2004
Posts: 13
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Sep 16, 2005 - 04:02 PM |
 
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| Post subject: Which bank to choose for small companys account? |
We are now "shopping" for a bank to open account in for our small WFOE. We need to send and receive money abroad quite often but still most of the payments are within mainland China.
Is HSBC working well nowadays? Or do they still have too many limitations because of the regulations for foreign banks?
And how about internet banking? Does ICBC or other local banks have english language internet banking services? I tried ICBCs demo
http://www.icbc.com.cn/download/yanshichengxu/qiye_en/index.htm
with little success. |
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pat_togo
Raver
Joined: Feb 22, 2005
Posts: 403
Location: Pudong & Hongkou, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Sep 20, 2005 - 03:25 AM |
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China Merchant Bank has the best internet banking software but I don't know if it is available in english. In your situation I will opt for two banks: hsbc for overseas operations in foreign currency and ICBC/BOC for local ones in RMB.
For a single bank choice though I won't advise HSBC, I would go for Bank of China. They are the most "international" of the big four and are also strong in the domestic market, though with less branches than ICBC. |
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Sinoinvest.biz-Offshore Company Registration (BVI, HK etc.) & China Company Formation |
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laowaiguoren
Squeeker
Joined: Sep 22, 2004
Posts: 13
Status: Offline
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Dec 22, 2005 - 03:54 PM |
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Have anybody experiences using services of Citibank, Standard Chartered bank or some other foreign bank for small company banking? We opened our account in HSBC but they are not capable of doing corporate banking yet in mainland. They dont know the local regulations and they continuously make mistakes even in very simple transactions and it is allways too hard fight to try to force them to fix their mistakes. In the beginning of 2006 we definitely need to find another bank. |
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Andreas
Board Royalty
Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6315
Location: 31 N 121 E
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Dec 22, 2005 - 04:34 PM |
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For corporate banking I side with pat_togo's advice. HSBC and either ICBC or BOC should cover all your needs. For private banking HSBC is best. |
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If it has tits, tires, or a transom, there's gonna be issues! |
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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7584
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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Dec 22, 2005 - 10:15 PM |
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I dont know if HSBC and Citibank are allowed to run small foreign company banks accounts. They were'nt a year ago when I registered our rep office. I chose the Agricultural Bank for our company accounts. The service is OK and I would say better than the BOC. We have not had any trouble with money transfers from the UK.
They dont have internet banking but few banks do.
The pain in the butt is the fact you can only get one printed statement a month, but they do have a service to advise you of the balance remaining via phone.
One of the problems I have had is that though I speak reasonable Chinese and write it too, writing out cheques is a pain as they must be written using the old Chinese numeric characters not Roman numerals. Everything has to be exact otherwise it does not pass and you have to write another cheque/payment slip. Signatures are no use, you have to use the personal chop and the bank chop that you should have been given if you are properly registered.
This does have an advantage as you can train up a reliable secretary and let them use the chops and withdraw cash and make the payments instead of visiting the bank yourself.
The banking system here is long overdue for an overhaul. |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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snowbytes
Reacher
Joined: June 29, 2004
Posts: 300
Location: xu hui
Status: Offline
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Dec 23, 2005 - 10:28 AM |
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many dont offer internet banking yet,, if you want net banking open an offshore accoutn in HK, being inthe finance biz, Im not a big fan of any of the big 4,, I do use HSBC on a limited bansis,, good local banks that have strong overseas affiliate banks, Shanghai Pudong Delopment, Bank of Shanghai and China Minsheng all offer great service USD and RBM accounts |
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uglyamerican
Barker
Joined: Feb 07, 2005
Posts: 153
Status: Offline
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Dec 28, 2005 - 12:07 AM |
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Chinese banks give poor service. We have an account with one of them and whenever someone credits our account, we are only notified about the amount and not the creditor. How can we keep track of who paid and who didn't?
HSBC is so so, I have an account with them. I think SC is probably the best as far as personal banking is concerned, "small" boutique bank with superb service.
Citibank sucks! I closed my US account with them and will never do business there again.
I had an account with Minsheng which, I am told, is the only private Chinese bank. They had so so service but are probably more solvent than BOC and all. That's what Three on the Bund uses if this can be a reference. Just read tonight in China Daily that "iregularities" in the banking system for the first 11 months total $ 30 billions, YES that's billions not millions! |
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"Let's give'em a fair trial followed by a fast hanging" Judge Roy Bean |
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goldhawk
Squeeker
Joined: Sep 18, 2008
Posts: 18
Location: London
Status: Offline
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Sep 18, 2008 - 07:31 PM |
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I am not sure if this will help, depending on your business model, and your requirements, how about dealing with a offshore bank in Jersey. Multi currency, USD, sterling and euro, online baking etc. It may or may not be appropriate. It's an idea. |
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