Financial Services
The financial services offered by China Post include postal
savings, electronic remittance, Western Union International Money Order and postal agent services. The year 2003 witnessed major headway in all those services. Postal Savings
By the end of 2003, the balance of postal savings increased by 21.92%, or RMB 161.2 billion yuan on a year-on-year basis to RMB 898.81 billion yuan, ranking the 6th among domestic commercial banks. The individual savings deposits in the rural area made up 34.1% of the total postal savings balance, which the individual savings deposits in cities and counties, accounted for 65.9% of the balance.
Domestic and International Electronic Remittance Business
In 2003, the previous manual operation of domestic electronic remittance was totally computerized, with the speed and time limit being greatly improved. Up to now, China Post has opened the 24-hour, 2-hour and real-time remittance and remittance return receipt services. By the end of 2003, China Post processed 204 million domestic money orders, decreasing by 3% over the previous year. The remittance volume stood at RMB 241.24 billion yuan, 5.4% lower than that of the previous year. 23,630 rural and urban postal outlets provided e-remittance services, accounting for 52% of total outlets, which well met the remittance needs of the public.
The normal international inbound money orders in 2003 reached 87,700 pieces, up 38.72% over the previous year. The total inbound money orders grew by 57.16% on a year-on-year basis, to 68.49 million US dollars. The outbound money orders numbered 106 pieces with a total volume of 18,800 US dollars, decreasing by 70% and 76% respectively compared with the previous year. The remittance business with 21 countries and regions including Japan, Finland and Switzerland was opened.
Western Union International Money Order
In July 2001, China Post and Western Union Financial Services, Inc (Western Union) jointly launched the Western Union International Money Order business, offering international express individual remittance services to domestic and overseas customers. At present more than 7,780 post bureaus (outlets) provide this service compared with the 49 ones at the very beginning，with the services covering 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). The Western Union
International Money Order service in Fujian and Guangdong provinces which have a large number of population going abroad and consequently a strong demand for the service developed rapidly, with the annual growth rate higher than the national average. By the end of 2003, the total transactions reached 270,000, with the total volume standing at 370 million US dollars, 130% and 96% higher than those of the previous year respectively. The revenue of service charge grew by 135% on a year-on-year basis to 2.65 million US dollars. Agent Services
In 2003, the agent insurance service of China Post advanced steadily. Insurance premium collected on a commission basis increased by 156.26% on a year-on-year basis to RMB 15.01 billion yuan, and the number of policyholders reached 13.91 million. There were 23,332 and 17,592 post bureaus engaging in agent life and property insurance services. The government bonds issued and cashed by China Post valued RMB 5.32 billion yuan, increasing by 29.2% over the previous year. Other intermediate services such as collection of telephone fee, cable TV fee and water, electric and gas charges also grew rapidly.
Postal Savings Green Card Business
In 2003, the postal savings green card of China Post was incorporated into the China UnionPay upgrading plan. Throughout the year 21.65 million cards were issued, of which 19.29 million carried the logo of UnionPay, accounting for 89% of the total. 5,464 postal ATMs have been upgraded to accept UnionPay cards, making up
97.8% of the total 5,585. 3,265 POS machines have also been upgraded, accounting for 66.7% of the total 4,894. Green cards issued in provincial capitals and most other cities have been standardized. The integration of postal savings green cards into the national UnionPay system broke the hardware bottleneck of ATM and POS of China Post and helped promote the development of postal savings business. In 2003 the accumulated transactions of green cards totaled 44.95 million, up 81.5% over last year, with the total volume increasing by 70.42% on a year-on-year basis to RMB 114.897 billion
yuan. | Trans-Bank Cash Deposit/Withdrawal and POS Payment |
| Cash
Deposit/Withdrawal Balance Check-up Loss Report, Pass Word Change POS Payment |
| Agent Services of Issuance, Payment and Collection |
| Payment： telecommunication
fees, water and electricity changes, cable TV fee, etc. Issuance： salary, annuities, social guarantee money, etc. At the Contracted Business Establishments: payment, payment transfer, etc. At the Appointed Post Offices: payment for postal service or postalitems, etc. At the Appointed Taxi Companies and Hotels: payment for taxi fare, hotel charges, food and beverages, tickets, etc. |
