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Josephine Ma

Pinched by the rising competition between commercial banks, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) hopes to lure deposits by providing electronic services for customers.

  Zhou Hongjun , general manager of Shenzhen Gelan Information and Consultant Co, now split from ICBC's Shenzhen branch, said it last year began providing technology which allowed Shenzhen ICBC customers to check the balance and money flow of their accounts using computer terminals and pagers.

  The company, originally a Shenzhen ICBC division which provided corporate ratings for bank loans, became independent in 1993.

  Its terminal and pager subscribers can obtain information such as securities prices, lottery results, weather reports and even the settlement prices of their securities transactions.

  Terminal subscribers can also trade securities and obtain financial news on the network.

  Mr Zhou said Shenzhen ICBC was the first commercial bank in China to provide such services, and Shenzhen Gelan in September had transferred the technology to ICBC branches in Zhejiang province and the cities of Qinhuangdao, Shantou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen and Shanghai to launch similar services.

  He believed ICBC would consider extending the services to other cities if the response was good.

  Mr Zhou said the ICBC wanted to grab more market share while other banks were developing their network and software.

  The Shenzhen branch of China Construction Bank had launched similar services earlier this year by co-operating with a paging company, but had not provided services through computers.

  Mr Zhou is confident the services will attract deposits.

  'One customer might have deposit accounts in several banks. If they can check the balance of their accounts easily, of course more transactions will be done through the ICBC,' he said.

  'What the commercial banks face in the future is the fight for deposits. . . we are worried about the competition from those new commercial banks approved by the State Council in recent years as they do not have historical burdens.' 



ICBC hopes to head off rivals with electronic banking service