China's central bank announced on Sunday a series of measures,
including allowing more money to be cashed from ATMs in a day, to
address complaints of clients that they have to queue up at banks
for hours.
Increasing personal payments that have to be made via banks,
people's excessive reliance on cash payments, and imperfect banking
services were cited as major reasons for long queues at banks.
Chinese people go to banks to pay water, electricity and gas
fees, pay back bank loans for apartments and autos, and buy funds,
securities and insurance products.
The People's Bank of China, which is the central bank, said
people will be able to pay for public utilities, such as water and
electricity, via their accounts in any of the banks in the future.
At present, people have to make the payments in different banks
designated by the service providers.
The limit of cash withdraw from ATMs will be raised from the
current 5,000 yuan (US$649.4) to 20,000 yuan within a day. The
measure aims to discourage people from going to the bank counters
to get cash.
The central bank said that commercial banks need to explore
alternative payment channels, such as on-line payment and payment
via telephone calls, to help people make payments off the
counters.
(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2007)