In court the prosecutors provided important evidence that an official of the People's Bank of China said the Peony Communication Card did not come into line with the required standards.

After the initial investigation and debate, the court closed without stating a time for a second sitting. The Beijing Branch of ICBC refused to give any comment on the case.

The prosecutors, Hu Xiping and Zhang Jie, listed six charges in the indictment in June.

The first was that ICBC does not make allowances for cards reported lost. This violates the Bank Cards Management Method delivered by the People's Bank of China, they said.

Second, a notice on the Peony Card says "users should accept the bank's decision when a mistake caused by machine failure occurs," which Hu and Zhang describe as "most unfair."

Third, users are required to leave over 10 yuan (US$1.2) on the account.

"This violates consumers' control of their own money," they commented.

Furthermore, the card's secret code is created by a bank computer, "so there is a possibility of bank interference."

Also the bank statement that "other matters not included are to be explained by bank" and the fact that there is no telephone number on the card for service requirements and help is also illegal, according to Hu and Zhang.

There are 2.2 million Peony Communication Cards in Beijing currently.

The Peony Communication Card was developed by the Beijing Branch of ICBC and the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

ICBC is one of China's major banks and one of the Fortune Top 500 Companies.

(China Daily 11/02/2000)