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I am going to start visiting Mainland China often for business reasons and would like to open a deposit a/c there for the sake of convenience. I would like to be able to withdraw RMB from an RMB account at no charge... preferably at ANY banks ATM or at least the one with the largest network (more ATM terminals) throughout major cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

I find that I can open a RMB based account with major banks in HKG but that I would not be able to withdraw funds from it using the ATM. I can obviously withdraw RMB in Mainland China but the funds would be debited from a HKD a/c at whatever exchange rate + a fee. I want to hold RMB and be able to withdraw it while in China whenever necessary.

During my research, I found that I can open an account with ICBC (Asia) in HK and at the same time, the bank can actually open a RMB savings account for me with one of their local branches in China. They claim that I can move RMB from my HK based account to my one in China and withdraw it from any of their ATMs while in the Mainland at no charge. Other banks ATM would incur a charge.

Are there other banks I should consider? I notice there are smaller, local community banks in different parts of China. I am also interested in knowing if any PRC banks would issue non-Chinese citizens a China issued credit card? I am a HK resident but not sure if that would make any difference.

ICBC and other banks offer dual currency credit cards but it’s not very appealing as the RMB balance must be paid off in HKD.

BEA offers the same product but it gives you two statement totals, one in RMB and one in HKD… and they allow you to settle HKD a/c using HKD and RMB a/c using RMB. Seems convenient enough for making purchases in the Mainland wherever Union Pay is accepted.

AMEX has China issued cards in partnership with various Chinese banks such as China Merchants and others but all the sites are in Chinese. I don’t know if it would be possible to get one through Global transfer and if that would allow one to actually build some credit history in China.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.