Foreign banks hope to win with service

Four foreign banks began offering yuan services in mainland China yesterday, and expect to win customers from their domestic rivals with stronger service offerings.  Several domestic banks announced recent service upgrades intended to reduce their typical long waiting lines.  However, a Washington Post reporter failed to note a positive effect at a local Bank of China branch with waiting times of at least 90 minutes.

Bank of China Vice President Zhu Min acknowledged his bank’s challenges in customer services, saying “It will take eight to 10 years to get all our 230,000 employees to meet international service standards.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300462.html