Industrial Bank Cancels Personal Account Management Fee from August 1

On July 28, 2017, Industrial Bank (IB) announced that it would completely cancel the management fee of personal accounts (excluding credit card) since August 1, along with the overdue payment of historical account management fee.

According to the Notice of Canceling and Suspending Charges of Partial Basic Financial Services of Commercial Banks (Fa Gai Jia Ge Gui [2017] No. 1250) (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 1250) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on June 30, commercial banks shall, starting from August 1, cancel the annual fee and account management fee for an account designated by a client or the only account of the client opened with the bank (excluding credit card and VIP account). IB not only strictly executes this requirements but also expands the scope to all personal accounts (excluding credit card), showing the responsibilities of IB to “reduce costs and compromise profits”.

It is known that IB once charged account management fee for small-sum accounts (RMB current deposit account with daily balance equal to or less than RMB 300 for three months), while no account management fee has been charged for “active accounts” held by regular clients and containing a certain amount of balance.

As for the 6 charging items suspended as required by the Circular No. 1250 from August 1, including the handling charge, loss report charge and labor cost of bank notes and bank drafts, IB already suspended them on April 25.

The NDRC and other departments issued the Notice of Clearing and Standardizing Service Charges Involving Enterprise Operation in April, which indicates to suspend the handling charge, loss report charge and labor cost of bank notes and bank drafts but does not give a specific time of execution. To actively implement and carry out statutory regulations, IB issued the Notice of Suspending the Handling Charge, Loss Report Charge and Labor Cost of Bank Notes and Bank Drafts in June, demanding all affiliated organizations to suspend 6 charging items including the handling charge, loss report charge and labor cost of bank notes and bank drafts since April 25, and to refund those collected after April 25, which is positively accepted by clients.