Letters

Banks should be for the people

One afternoon my girlfriend and I waited at a Bank of China branch for one hour 55 minutes (from 11:40 am to 1:35 pm) to complete a simple transaction. The staff seemed incapable of understanding the basic concept of good banking - or indeed any service-based business - and that is that the customer comes first.

I am a retired Scottish banker working in China, so I think I am qualified to speak about "good banking". Interestingly, apart from my Chinese girlfriend and I, the only other two people who complained were other foreigners, although I could see the frustration on some Chinese faces. Why don't Chinese customers complain? It can't be fear, so it must be the knowledge that nothing will be achieved by it.