Live in Suzhou | Suzhou Travel Guide | 苏州旅游

Opening a Bank Account in China
在中国开银行账户
Opening up a personal bank account at the Bank of China in Suzhou is quite easy. Any foreigner in China with a valid passport can do it, and it just takes a few minutes. You can open a China RMB savings account or a multi-currency savings account (本、外币活期一本通). With both account types, you will get an ATM card that you can use country-wide and also a bank book that will show all your transactions. The Bank of China uses a bank book system instead of paper statements that are sent to you and you can check your RMB balance at any time by using the 'Balance Enquiry' function on Bank of China ATMs. You can check your total balance, RMB and foreign currency by using the enquiry machine at each Bank of China branch (see picture). Just open up the bank book and insert it top first, printed side up. Press the

print icon (figure 1), and the machine will take the book and print out all transactions since the last time you had them printed. Using the machine will save lots of time in that you don't have to queue up just to see if funds have arrived for you.

Internet banking services in English or Chinese and phone banking (Chinese only) are also available.

When you go into a larger branch of the Bank of China to deposit or withdraw funds or to change money, you may have to take a number in order to be served. You can take a number from the dispenser shown in figure 2. As the headings are all in Chinese, if you do not read the language you may have a hard time, but if you press the spot where it says individual withdrawals and deposits (个人存取款业务), as shown in figure 2, you should be fine for RMB transactions. This one is usually the first one at the top. Press foreign exchange (外汇买卖、外币兑换业务) if you need to exchange foreign currency. This is the second heading- see figure 3.

There are ATMs readily available all over China. You can use a China local ATM card in your own bank's and other banks' ATMs. A Chinese ATM will only allow you to withdraw Chinese currency regardless of whether you are using a local Chinese or foreign credit or debit card.

If you are using a Chinese bank card for a multi-currency account, you can withdraw funds that you have already converted into RMB, but not funds in other currencies. You have to physically go to the bank to change your foreign currency into RMB, and then you can use your Chinese ATM card to withdraw RMB from an ATM.

If you change money at a Chinese bank, they will give you an exchange slip and a document with your name, passport number and contact details on it. You will need this document and your passport if you ever need to change all or part of your RMB money back into foreign currency.

If you are sending money from abroad to a Chinese account, make sure that you copy the account name exactly as it is stated in your bank book. If there is even the slightest variation, no matter how logical or obvious, the banks will simply send the funds back.

Vocabulary:

RMB savings account (人民币活期一本通).

Multi-currency savings account, including. RMB (本、外币活期一本通).