FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Opinion: without Alipay and Wechat Pay, you are screwed in Shanghai
Old Jun 7, 2023 | 1:29 am
  #425  
moondog
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Community Builder
Community Influencer
All eyes on you!
25 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 46,227
Originally Posted by wlau
I am bugging our company's local office admin to see if they can help me open a local bank account. I heard some talks about the company can provide employment affidavit and it would be enough to open a depository account, especially if it's the same bank the company uses. Our company's China-travel people are all moaning about how difficult it has become to use cash in China. I love China but not able to spend money is really strange.

Before COVID, it was difficult but not as difficult like now. I remember I would always go to a China Unicom store on the last day of my trip and unload all my coins and small change and pay that amount into my local mobile. i guess I no longer have the need to do that now as it's hard to spend cash and get change.
Have you tried opening an account on your own recently? I'm thinking getting your company involved with all of that paperwork could actually be counterproductive (e.g. forcing the bank to open cans of worms that would otherwise slide under the radar). While I get the fact that the latest rules are annoying, I'm guessing that you could find a bank branch that would hook you up. As I've suggested up thread, think about trying smaller players or new branches that are extremely keen on meeting internal KPIs.

ETA: If you don't have a local phone number, it might be useful to jump through that hoop first.
https://nhglobalpartners.com/bank-ac...or-foreigners/

Last edited by moondog; Jun 7, 2023 at 1:41 am
moondog is offline