Starting Monday, all holders of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's peony cards will pay 2 yuan (24 US cents) for each withdrawal using an automatic teller machine from another bank.
Now, all of China's "Big Four" state-run banks are charging for ATM cross-bank withdrawals. The other three are China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.
The charge is to offset the high cost shouldered by the banks for cross-bank operations, according to an official with ICBC's Beijing branch.
Without identifying himself, the official said the bank has to pay 4 yuan for each cross-bank withdrawal, which would cost it tens of thousands of yuan a day.
(Shanghai Daily April 15, 2003)
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