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Opening a Chinese bank account

What the branch will ask for, which banks are used to foreigners, and why the account is worth the afternoon it costs.

6 min read

You can live for a month on a foreign card in Alipay. Past that, the fees and the limits start to bite, and there are things — a salary, a deposit refund, a utility direct debit — that simply need a local account.

What to bring

  • Passport, with a visa that is not a tourist visa if you want anything beyond a basic account.
  • Your Chinese mobile number, already registered in your own name. This is not optional and cannot be a friend's.
  • The police registration slip from your address — the one you got in your first 24 hours.
  • Residence permit if you have one, plus your employer's or university's letter.
  • A local address written in Chinese. Bring the lease.
Bank of China, ICBC and China Merchants Bank have the most branches used to foreign customers. Ask your employer or university which branch they send people to — a branch that does this weekly takes an hour; one that does it twice a year can take three visits.

How the afternoon goes

  1. 1

    Take a ticket, wait

    Go on a weekday morning, not at lunchtime and not on the first or last days of the month.

  2. 2

    Forms, in Chinese

    Staff fill most of it in. Your name is entered exactly as the passport has it.

  3. 3

    Set a six-digit PIN

    It is used for everything, including in-app confirmations. Do not reuse a PIN from home.

  4. 4

    Enable mobile banking and SMS

    Ask for both explicitly. Without them the card works in shops but not in apps.

  5. 5

    Bind the card to Alipay and WeChat

    Do it in the branch, while somebody is there to fix it if the SMS does not arrive.

Getting money out again

Sending money abroad from a Chinese account is a paperwork exercise, not a button. There is an annual allowance and the bank asks what the money is for. If you expect to repatriate a salary, ask about the process at the branch on day one, not at the end.

Sources

Rules, fees and app screens change. Everything here was checked against the sources above on the dates shown; when the app in your hand disagrees with this page, the app is right.