Top Biz News

Household deposits reflect services

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-27 09:30

Household deposits atAgricultural Bank of Chinasurged last year amid improving products and services.

Outstanding value of yuan household deposits topped 2.78 trillion yuan (US$356 billion) at the end of December, 340.8 billion yuan more than the level at the year's beginning, the country's second-biggest lender said yesterday in a statement.

The growth accounted for 59.4 percent of the lender's total deposits.

"The bank strengthened management on services at bank counters to increase efficiency at bank outlets," theBeijing-based bank said.

The bank opened counters especially for high-end clients in 7,367 outlets nationwide.

Domestic banks like ABC are fighting with overseas rivals to grab high-end clients. It is noted that the 20 percent of high-end clients contributed to 80 percent of the bank's profits.

Overseas players like Citigroup, Hongkong andShanghaiBanking Corp and Standard Chartered will be able to offer a full array ofretailyuan services soon.

And they can now take term deposits of more than one million yuan.

ABC is the last of the big four state-owned banks to be reformed, including write-offs, incorporation, foreign investment and listing.