Original title: Suspension of cash business! Two private banks strengthen online channels, what happened?More private banks are still seeking this qualification
A few days ago, two private banks issued announcements one after another that they would suspend the over-the-counter cash business at their outlets and focus their resources on building online channels.
The brokerage Chinese reporter learned that many private banks are actively seeking Internet banking qualifications, including increasing digital transformation efforts and introducing shareholders with Internet backgrounds.
Since the second half of 2020, the regulatory authorities have reduced the space for local banks to solicit deposits and loans through Internet channels through window guidance and the issuance of relevant documents. In this context, the internal differentiation of private banks has further intensified, and the advantages of private banks that have obtained national business development qualifications are prominent, and some private banks have “shrinked their balance sheets”.
Two private banks suspend cash business
On January 28, Zhongguancun Bank announced that after reporting to the relevant regulatory authorities, the bank will suspend the cash collection and payment business from April 1, 2022, and the suspension channels include the counters of business outlets and the bank’s ATM machine self-service channels.
According to the announcement, after Zhongguancun Bank suspends the cash collection and payment business, the bank’s customers can handle other businesses other than cash collection and payment through the bank’s mobile app and business outlets; if they really need cash services, the customer can transfer money to him through the bank. Bank to handle, our bank waives the transfer fee.
Not long ago, Liaoning Zhenxing Bank also announced that, with the approval of the People’s Bank of China in charge, the bank will suspend cash deposits and withdrawals, change exchanges, damaged currency exchanges, self-service equipment deposits and withdrawals, etc. from March 1, 2022. cash business.
The announcement shows that the main purpose of the two banks to stop the cash business of bank outlets is to save offline business costs and focus resources on the improvement of digital service capabilities. Among them, Zhongguancun Bank stated in the announcement that the suspension of cash collection and payment business is because “as our bank accelerates the pace of digital transformation and continuously increases the development of online business, in order to provide customers with more convenient and efficient financial services”; Liaoning Zhenxing The bank also stated that the purpose of suspending the business was to “focus resources to enhance the service capabilities of e-banking”.
In this regard, some analysts pointed out that private banks in the “one bank, one store” model have a natural tendency to expand their businesses on the Internet. In the past, many private banks cooperated with Internet platforms to expand their businesses, ignoring their own channels. Strengthen its own online service capacity building. There is also a view that the above-mentioned two banks will stop offline cash business and invest in online capacity building, or pave the way for transformation into Internet banks.
Private banks seek transformation under performance differentiation
Since the second half of 2020, the regulatory authorities have reduced the space for local banks such as urban and rural commercial banks to solicit deposits and loans through Internet channels through window guidance and the issuance of relevant documents. At present, private banks that are not in the regulatory filing and have not obtained Internet qualifications are regulated in the same way as city commercial banks.
As the influence of regulatory policies has gradually become apparent, most private banks have slowed down the pace of “balance sheet expansion”, and some private banks have already experienced a “balance sheet shrinking” crisis. For example, Sanxiang Bank recently disclosed that the bank’s total assets at the end of 2021 were 58.362 billion yuan, and the indicator at the end of 2020 was 57.070 billion yuan; the general deposit balance was 42.664 billion yuan, and the indicator was 40.980 billion yuan at the end of 2020. The growth rate of assets and deposits A sharp slowdown compared to previous years.
In addition, as of the end of June 2021, the total assets of Huatong Bank, which had acquired a large number of deposits through the leading Internet financial platform, decreased by 5.81 billion yuan compared with the beginning of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 25.7%, the deposit balance decreased by 31.20%, and the loan balance decreased by 17.14%; and by 2021 At the end of September, the bank’s deposit balance rebounded slightly, but the loan balance further decreased by 16.85% month-on-month.
There are also some private bank assets that have slowed down, but have not been significantly affected. For example, Zhongbang Bank, as of the end of 2021, the bank’s total assets were 87.167 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.30%; total liabilities were 82.448 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.31%. The growth rate of the bank’s assets and liabilities last year has slowed down compared to its “balance sheet expansion” rate of over 70% in 2020, but it still maintains a relatively high growth rate.
As a matter of fact, the current local supervision on the implementation of the behavior of private banks in different places is different, and many private banks are still operating nationwide.
“Many private banks are now communicating with regulators. On the one hand, it is about the degree of supervision of business development in different places. On the other hand, there are also private banks applying for filing as Internet banks.” An industry insider told reporters that currently only WeBank and Internet merchants Four private banks, namely Bank, Xinwang Bank, and Yealink Bank, have obtained the Internet qualifications that can expand their businesses nationwide.
However, it is understood that it is difficult to obtain Internet qualifications. It is necessary to introduce shareholders with an Internet background to strengthen the Internet gene, and at the same time, it is necessary to further strengthen the construction of digital capabilities. So far, there has been no “good news” from private banks.