Comments on: Setting Up Your Bank Account and Transfer Tips

By: Yoshiko

Yoshiko — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 09:37:07 +0000

Hi! Quick update — I was able to open an account at the Bank of China embassy district branch (across the street from the Volkswagen office) with just my passport; they didn’t even mention anything about a tax ID number. So — not sure if the ‘requirement’ at the China Merchant’s Bank is their own or what…

By: Andrew Killeen

Andrew Killeen — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 03:47:33 +0000

Great, hope you get it sorted! Please do let us know if the rules have changed and we’ll update the article.

By: Yoshiko

Yoshiko — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 03:19:14 +0000

Hi Andrew! Thanks for looking into this– I’m planning to go try a Bank of China to see if they require it too. I’ll report back when I do, in case this really is (or isn’t) a new requirement!

By: Andrew Killeen

Andrew Killeen — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 13:34:06 +0000

In reply to Yoshiko.

Hi Yoshiko, we’ve asked our company’s Finance Department (who work with China Merchant Bank) and they don’t understand this. I certainly wasn’t asked for it when I opened my account there. We’ll continue investigating, but sometimes you get a different answer if you go on a different day and ask a different person… Might be worth trying again, and we’ll update here if we discover anything further!

By: Yoshiko

Yoshiko — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 09:14:39 +0000

I recently went to open a bank account at China Merchant’s Bank （招商银行）and was told I need to provide a Chinese personal tax ID number （个人纳税号）in addition to the passport I’d brought along. I have no idea what it is, and since it was the weekend I couldn’t ask my company’s finance dept. Is this a new regulation for all banks?