Medium-sized banks lead satisfaction survey in China

BEIJING, April7 -- Chinese customers feel more satisfied with
services from medium-sized banks than with the country's top three State banks,
according to a national survey of 4,684 customers conducted by marketing
information firm Market Probe China.

China Merchants Bank, a mid-sized lender based in Shenzhen, took the crown
as the bank customers are most satisfied with, according to the survey.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank by
market value, failed to make the top ten in Market Probe's banking customer
satisfaction list. The other two of China's top three banks, China Construction
Bank (CCB) and Bank of China (BOC), tied for seventh place.

Although independent surveys of customer satisfaction have become industry
standards in most developed countries, they are rarely seen in China.

Market Probe's survey is the first independent and unbiased survey of
customer satisfaction in China's banking industry. Xu Jingkui, president of
Market Probe China, said his company plans to conduct such surveys every year.
It asked customers to rate seven different categories of retail banking services
in Chinese banks: branch experience, credit card, personal loan, wealth
management, private banking, telephone banking and Internet banking.

Medium-sized banks such as China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong
Development Bank and Industrial Bank topped Market Probe's customer satisfaction
list in all categories.

Market Probe's survey is based on answers from Internet users through
Chinese Internet portal Sohu.com's finance section from Dec 15, 2008 to March
28, 2009.

(Source: China Daily)