(Ecns.cn)！ Although China's financial regulators have asked all banks to stop charging 34 service fees as of July 1, banks have been secretively bypassing the new regulation, the Economic Information Daily reported.
The fees to be abandoned include fees for opening or canceling a personal savings account or balance account, changing the password of a bank card, and making deposits and withdrawals within the bank card's issuing city, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the People's Bank of China, and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said via a circular on March 14.
Financial institutions should inform clients of the relevant fees beforehand and offer them the right to choose services, said the circular.
However, there is no sign at the bank that gives information about the circular at Shanghai's Gao'an sub-branch of China Construction Bank (CCB), according to a report by the Economic Information Daily.
"Many clients interviewed said they were not aware of the new fee regulations," the report said.
Bank tellers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) told the reporter over the phone that opening a personal savings account is free of charge if the client is applying for a deposit book, while a deposit card still costs 15 yuan ($ 2.3).
"The banks are using the loopholes to keep charging their clients those fees," the report commented.
Experts say the banks' sense of superiority is the reason they have unscrupulously ignored or bypassed the joint circular.
Yu Minhua, an analyst at Haitong Securities, said the earnings of commercial banks are mainly from interest rates of loans and deposits, and the minimal charges are often neglected by clients.
"It is more appropriate to say that they used a loophole in people's minds," Yu said.
In addition to the charges, director of Beijing Wen Tian law firm, Zhang Yuanzhong, said that banks in China are overly protected and not accustomed to serving their clients.
Zhang suggested that relative authorities intensify law enforcement efforts, punishing those banks which bypass and ignore regulations and forcing them to treat clients humbly.
"Unlike in developed countries, in which banks are vying for clients by promoting their services," Zhang said, "Chinese banks have the upper hand in the buyer-seller relationship."
Besides the service fees, some have even questioned the circular itself on the Internet.
"Some of these 34 service fees had already been scrapped a long time ago," one post read. "The sincerity of the circular is questionable."
Zhou Ziheng, head of the Finance Department of the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, said law enforcement efforts would not solve the problem single-handedly, if they did not enlist the help of a well-established banking system to protect the rights of customers.
As analysts pointed out, foreign banks also charge small management fees for customers' accounts in exchange for high-quality services, which Chinese banks seldom provide.
"They are not working under a market-oriented environment," Yu said. "The banks benefit from interest rates on one hand, and charging service fees without providing quality services on the other."
