Xinyu high-altitude work, Yitan cement silo cleaning, Ganzhou chimney maintenance. According to Jiangsu Zhongjie High-altitude Construction and Anti-corrosion Engineering Co., Ltd.: the three ministries issued a method for bank service price governance, suspected of limited supervision.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the People's Bank of China (PBC), and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) jointly drafted the "Commercial Bank Service Price Management Measures (Xinyu high-altitude work, Yitan cement silo cleaning, Ganzhou chimney maintenance)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") and solicited public opinions. This "Measures" categorizes commercial bank service prices into government-guided prices, government-set prices, and market-regulated prices, with hopes of improving bank service fee management.
This newspaper had previously continuously disclosed the complaint hotspots in bank fee services. Although the "Measures" regulates some of the complaint focal points, there are still loopholes.
Legal experts believe that the scope of government pricing and guided prices proposed in the "Measures" is too narrow. In terms of market-regulated prices, the regulatory authority gives banks too much freedom to adjust prices.
According to the "Measures", projects subject to government-guided or government-set prices mainly involve basic commercial bank services closely related to people's lives, including bank drafts, cashier's checks, checks, credit transfers, and collection on consignment services.
For commercial bank service prices not subject to government-guided or government-set prices, they will be subject to market-regulated prices, which will be formulated and adjusted by the head office (总公司) of the commercial bank. Branches shall not independently formulate and adjust service prices in violation of the head office's regulations. When formulating and adjusting prices, there must be unified business descriptions and promotional materials, which should be prominently displayed in business premises.
Current Status Scan
Few banks have clear fee guidance at ATMs
Although most banks have improved in terms of fee project disclosure, some items are still unclear. For example, there is no explicit fee guidance on electronic terminals such as ATMs. Since some transactions differ between bank counters and ATMs, citizens hope that banks can clearly display fee standards next to ATMs.
In areas involving cross-industry transaction fees such as "foreign exchange transfers," banks generally only disclose their own fee standards but do not provide fee guidance from other banks.
The "Measures" stipulate that commercial bank service prices should strictly implement the open pricing system. Commercial banks should provide relevant service price directories or manuals in prominent locations within business premises for financial consumers to freely review. Banks with conditions may use electronic displays, multimedia terminals, computer inquiries, and other methods for open pricing.
Some banks charge financing advisory fees for loans
The "Measures" did not address some customer complaints. For example, state-owned banks have excessively high fees for intercity transfer withdrawals, and there are issues with unprofessional sales of wealth management products. Currently, the intercity withdrawal fees of large state-owned banks are significantly higher than those of shareholding banks, prompting citizens to suggest that related banks lower their handling fee standards. In the sales process of bank wealth management products, customer complaints mainly focus on banking staff failing to clearly explain the basic factors and risks of the products being sold, even exaggerating product returns for performance considerations while avoiding risks.
Additionally, a company owner in Guangzhou revealed to the reporter that it is very difficult to obtain loans from banks currently. Even if loans can be obtained, the cost approaches the limit set by the central bank, i.e., four times the benchmark interest rate. The interest rates explicitly stated in contracts are not high, many of which are verbally proposed. He introduced that banks currently charge more than four types of additional fees, including account management fees, financing consulting fees, and advisory fees.
The general manager of a large guarantee company in Guangzhou privately disclosed to the reporter that the annual interest rate charged by banks for guaranteed loans usually floats 50% to 100% above the benchmark interest rate, but the high interest rate does not appear in the contract. Instead, it is collected once as loan financing advisory fees.
Two Major Questions: Can the "reporting system" curb the impulse to charge fees?
Some legal professionals believe that the scope of government pricing and guided prices proposed in the "Measures" is too narrow. In terms of market-regulated prices, the regulatory authority grants banks excessive freedom to adjust prices, giving banks opportunities to arbitrarily charge fees. In reality, the "Measures" implements a "reporting system" for bank service charges, which has less regulatory power compared to an "approval system," not just by a little bit.
A senior lawyer from the Guangdong Banking Association told the reporter that requiring banks to "report in advance" and "openly price" could instead create a loophole in the law for banks to justify "high fees."
"In a fully competitive situation, the reporting system is not a problem; but China's banking industry is still relatively monopolized." Consumer Association Vice President and Renmin University Professor Liu Junhai suggested that it is necessary to impose reasonable restrictions on the scope of market-regulated prices, tilting more towards consumers.
How does pricing reflect consumer voice?
The "Measures" only mentions seeking consumer opinions in the formulation of government pricing and government-guided prices; it does not mention consultations or seeking consumer opinions for market-regulated prices that banks can independently set. There is a case where Ms. Tang from Beijing transferred over $200 overseas through a commercial bank and was charged a RMB 200 remittance fee, leaving her utterly confused. Zhang Yuanzhong, director of Beijing Wentian Law Firm, pointed out that some banks "skyrocket" service fees, which is not unrelated to the lack of consumer voice in the formulation of bank service prices.
"Whether it is government pricing, guided pricing, or market-regulated pricing, consumer opinions should be sought," said Liu Junhai. Even if practical constraints prevent banks from individually negotiating with each consumer, hearings should still be held.
Source: Guangzhou Daily, February 12, 2012, by Wang Liang