Recently, a number of banks have successively announced that they will completely shut down special deposit products. For example, Tianjin Binhai Rural Commercial Bank announced that since December 15 this year, the bank's personal "fixed and live" and "profit increase" deposit business will cease to operateSince December 15 this year, the current funds will no longer be transferred to the personal "fixed activation" and "profit increase" fundsThe interest calculation rules of the personal "fixed live pass" and "profit increase" funds that have been transferred remain unchanged, and continue to operate in accordance with the rules of the original product.
The so-called special deposit product is an innovative deposit product launched by commercial banks according to their own business needs and customer needs, with the filing or tacit approval of the central bank, and has four obvious characteristics compared with ordinary time deposits: the interest rate is higher, and the interest rate level is better than the ordinary time deposit rate of the bank with the same term;The minimum deposit amount is low, with a minimum deposit amount of RMB 10,000 or RMB 30,000, or even lower, respectivelyThe withdrawal is flexible, and the product can be partially withdrawn once in advance during the deposit period, which can meet the needs of depositors for early withdrawalThere are many options for deposit period, which can be divided into five types, such as three months, six months, one year, two years, and three yearsIn addition, there are other preferential riders attached to depositors.
Data map according to ic photo
It stands to reason that banks' special deposit products should have relatively good "selling points" and are also deposit products that are preferred by the majority of depositors. In this case, why are some banks shutting down special deposit products?Judging from the current operating environment of the banking industry, it will not be shut down for no reason, but must be there a reason.
First, in line with the downward trend of deposit interest rates, it will not increase the cost of liabilities for no reason, and it can also improve the ability to pay for the real economy. At present, the bank deposit interest rate is generally facing a downward trend, this situation is consistent with the objective reality of China's economic development, to reduce the financing cost of real enterprises, only by the reduction of the LPR interest rate can not achieve the expected effect, must be supplemented by the reduction of the deposit interest rate, in the past two years the bank deposit interest rate has actually been in a state of downward adjustment. However, if the special deposit products continue to be retained, because their interest rates are too high, they will undoubtedly increase the cost of financing, which will bring passivity to commercial banks to reduce credit interest rates and solve the problem of expensive financing for real enterprises.
Second, in the case that the overall trend of various deposit interest rates of banks is in a downward channel, special deposit products cannot show many advantages. At present, with the exception of a very small number of small and medium-sized commercial banks that have difficulty in raising funds, the majority of commercial banks have maintained an absolute growth trend in deposits, and even the reduction of deposit interest rates cannot stop this trend. In other words, even if the special deposit product is shut down, depositors' money will still have to be deposited in the bank;Moreover, the featured deposit products may not show much distinctiveness, and their appeal to depositors is limited, so it is of little significance to retain the featured deposit products.
Third, "cutting out the complicated and simplifying" deposit products is conducive to operation and management, and can also reduce the operating pressure of commercial banks to a certain extent. At present, whether it is a large state-owned commercial bank, a joint-stock commercial bank, or a small and medium-sized commercial bank, one of the biggest problems faced by them is that the outlets are withdrawn and merged, the number of personnel is small, the types of business development are many, and the pressure of competition is great. Obviously, it is better to shut down the special deposit products than to "harm each other".
Fourth, the existing bank deposit products themselves are relatively "abundant", and the closure of special deposit products will not have an impact on the overall deposit operation. At present, there are many types of bank fixed deposit products, such as small deposit and withdrawal, lump sum deposit and withdrawal, principal deposit and interest and fixed life two pence, three-month, half-year, one-year, two-year, three-year and five-year deposit according to time, in addition to large-amount fixed deposit certificates, structured deposits and so on according to the variety. These deposit products with different maturities and different types can fully meet the needs of different depositors in choosing deposits, and there is no need for banks to continue to retain special deposit products.
Therefore, the closure of special deposit products is actually the result of the bank's assessment of the situation and adaptation to the marketization of deposit interest rates, and the majority of depositors must learn to empathize and adopt an attitude of tolerance and understanding.
Author: Mo Kaiwei, researcher at the China Institute of Local Finance.
Edited by Yu Dongmei.
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