One
Recently, there are two seemingly inconspicuous news, but behind it may be a secret path for the development of private banks, bringing about a major trend.
The news is that Zhongguancun Bank and Liaoning Zhenxing Bank both issued announcements, saying that they will accelerate the pace of digital transformation and will stop cash receipt and payment business, involving over-the-counter cash deposits and withdrawals, ATMs self-service channels, etc.
Among them, Zhongguancun Bank said that it will stop the cash receipt and payment business from April 1, and the channels for the suspension include the counters of business outlets and the self-service channels of the bank's ATM machines. Customers can handle various types of business other than cash receipt and payment through the bank's mobile APP and business outlets; if they really need cash services, customers can transfer money to other banks through the bank, and the bank is exempt from the transfer fee.
Liaoning Zhenxing Bank will stop cash business such as over-counter cash deposits and withdrawals, change exchange, damaged currency exchange, and self-service equipment deposits and withdrawals from March 1.
On the surface, it seems simple, both banks have joined the digital transformation torrent of the banking industry, focusing their resources online and improving the service capabilities of electronic banking.
Private banks, originally offline is slightly chicken ribs, at most can only have one outlet, relying on this shop to suck deposits and reserves is a bit of a fantasy, so for a long time, their deposits are a short board, can only be highly dependent on interbank liabilities ah.
Isn't there a saying that the cost of cash escort is more than the cost of escorting cash.
But on second thought, why do you have to stop the offline cash business when resources are concentrated? How much will this bring inconvenience to customers and businesses that do have offline needs?
So you might as well make a guess, behind the small move, whether they want to go a different way.
Two
What's the road?
At present, private banks actually have two paths, or more accurately, two types of management.
A path is a pure Internet bank, and often has a shareholder background of an Internet giant. Although there is one less physical outlet, the Internet engages in two types of households and three types of households without boundaries, in other words, it is actually equivalent to a national exhibition on the Internet.
For example, WeBank (shareholder background has Tencent), MYbank (shareholder background has Ali), Xinnet Bank (shareholder background has Xiaomi), Yilian Bank (shareholder background has Meituan), there are Internet qualifications that can be developed in different places.
B path, classified as other private banks, under the jurisdiction of local regulatory authorities, can actually be compared to the management of general urban commercial banks, subject to greater policy constraints, can not be developed in different places.
On October 16, 2020, the Central Bank of China issued the Commercial Bank Law (Draft amendments), which mentioned that "regional commercial banks such as urban commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and village and township banks shall carry out business activities within the scope of their domicile in accordance with the law, and shall not carry out cross-regional business without approval".
For example, local corporate banks through various channels, including Internet channels, to open off-site deposit business, which is also explicitly not allowed. (By the way, this is why many city commercial banks attach great importance to a gold consumption license, because they can't engage in cross-regional business that has no branches in the territory, but relying on the gold consumption license can be... hush...... ）
This kind of restriction of off-site exhibition industry is still OK for city commercial banks, because people are deeply cultivating the local area, the resources themselves are good, some of them have financial deposits, and local special business is also everywhere.
But for private banks, why not? What resources are available? Except for those few shareholders with strong backgrounds, who can make a difference in the rest?
Three
Speaking of which, let's get back to the topic. The cash receipt and payment business was suspended, the outlet counters and ATMs were no longer done, and there was a speculation in the industry that it was likely to want to change the path - applying for the transformation into an Internet bank.
"Yujian Finance" noted that on January 13, 2020, the "Notice on Regulating The Relevant Matters Concerning Commercial Banks To Carry Out Personal Deposit Business through the Internet" jointly issued by the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Central Bank of China has such a sentence: "Local legal person commercial banks should adhere to the development positioning and ensure that the deposit business carried out through the Internet is based on serving customers in the region where the established institution is located." There are no physical business outlets, the business is mainly carried out online, and it meets the conditions stipulated by the CBIRC. ”
To repeat: "There are no entity operating outlets, the business is mainly carried out online, and it meets the conditions stipulated by the CBIRC." ”
Transformation is a good thing. Originally, the advantages of private banks were not offline, and the original intention of introducing private banks was not to have more institutions similar to urban commercial banks, and China's banks were already too many. The introduction of private banks is to introduce more dynamic capital and operation, and to introduce characteristic development.
The eight immortals of private banks crossed the sea, and they should have their own magical powers. Among them, the deep fit with the shareholder ecology is a magic power; and the direct banking, traffic and data advantages are another magic that has been passed. (Oh, to tell the truth, the rest, "pleasure" I racked my brain for a while, I really didn't come up with a third... ）
According to Blue Whale Finance, some private banks have applied to the regulatory authorities to transform into Internet banks. For example, in August 2021, Anhui Province issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Action Plan for the Development of Multi-level Capital Market Services "Three Places and One District"" to support Xinan Bank to introduce strategic investors and build a financial technology bank with Rich Internet genes and ecosystem.