While the banking industry is collectively promoting the reduction of the listed deposit interest rate, in order to further reduce the cost of debt, the innovative deposit products launched in the early years are also gradually withdrawing from the market.
On January 2, Shunde Rural Commercial Bank announced on its official website that in order to meet the policy requirements and the needs of business development, the bank will terminate the automatic account opening service of individual weekly deposit from January 31, 2024. Previously, Tianjin Binhai Rural Commercial Bank also announced that it would cease to operate the personal "fixed live pass" and "profit increase" deposit businessBank of Communications completely shut down the "Super Deposit" product.
According to the analysis, most of the deposit products that banks have recently terminated are innovative deposit products developed in response to customer needs in the early stage, which are different from ordinary live and time deposit products, and have the characteristics of no agreed term, withdrawal at any time, automatic rollover, etc., which are convenient for customers to withdraw flexibly and have higher returns.
Professionals pointed out that before 2019, some banks issued innovative deposit products such as demand deposits with interest on file, time deposit early withdrawal and periodic interest payment for deposits, which have a high cost of capital, and then rectified and stopped based on various factors. At present, the pressure on bank interest margins is generally large, and the main reason for actively adjusting and removing all kinds of innovative deposits is to control the cost of collecting deposits.
After the rectification and suspension of sales, a number of banks terminated the operation of innovative deposits
After the suspension of the new "smart notice deposit" business, Shunde Rural Commercial Bank once again announced the termination of the existing service.
On January 2, Shunde Rural Commercial Bank announced on its official website that in order to meet the policy requirements and the needs of business development, the bank will terminate the automatic account opening service of individual weekly deposit from January 31, 2024.
The announcement pointed out that if the expiration date (i.e., the "termination date") of the individual Weekly Deposit Automatic Account Opening Agreement signed by the customer is after January 31, 2024 (exclusive), the bank will uniformly adjust the expiration date of the contract to January 31, 2024, that is, the contracted Individual Weekly Deposit Easy automatic account opening service will be terminated in advance on January 31, 2024. If the expiration date of the Client's Weekly Deposit Agreement is before January 31, 2024 (inclusive), the expiration date does not need to be adjusted until it is automatically terminated.
According to the Shunde Rural Commercial Bank, the "Weekly Deposit" notice deposit is a new type of notice deposit business of the bank with a cycle of seven days, customers do not need to make multiple appointments for withdrawal dates, the system automatically transfers, and the number of days of the deposit period of 7 is calculated according to the call deposit interest rate, and the remaining days are calculated according to the current deposit interest rate, so as to increase the customer's capital income of the deposit product.
It is worth noting that in May 2023, a number of banks have intensively lowered the interest rates of call deposits and agreed deposits, and announced that they will suspend the sale of "smart notice deposit" products and no longer support new contracts. At that time, in order to meet the regulatory requirements and the needs of business development, Shunde Rural Commercial Bank also stopped handling personal weekly deposits from May 14, 2023, and the weekly deposits that had been deposited would not be affected.
The customer service of the mobile banking of Shunde Rural Commercial Bank said that this adjustment is mainly aimed at customers who have signed a contract with Weekly Deposit Easy to automatically sign a contract, that is, if the deposit amount of the contracted customer reaches the minimum deposit amount of Weekly Deposit, it will automatically sign a contract for them and handle the Weekly Deposit Easy deposit business. The termination of the bank's automatic account opening agreement means that customers who have signed the contract will no longer enjoy the automatic account opening function.
In addition to Shunde Rural Commercial Bank, a number of banks have recently made further adjustments to the existing innovative deposit products after rectification and suspension.
On December 14, Tianjin Binhai Rural Commercial Bank announced that from December 15, 2023, the personal "fixed activation" and "profit increase" deposit business will cease to operate. From December 15, 2023, the current funds will no longer be transferred to the personal "Activate Pass" and "Profit Increase" funds.
According to the information on the official website of Tianjin Binhai Rural Commercial Bank, the two types of deposit products are different from ordinary demand and time deposits. Personal "Fixed Activation Pass" is a kind of savings deposit product that does not agree on the deposit period in advance and calculates interest according to the deposit period of the withdrawal date at the time of withdrawal. "Profit Increase" personal call deposit is a kind of personal call deposit in local and foreign currencies that does not agree on the deposit period, can be withdrawn multiple times, does not need to notify the bank in advance to agree on the withdrawal date and amount, and has the function of automatic rollover, so that customers can obtain higher interest income.
In addition, Bank of Communications will also completely shut down the "Super Deposit" product from December 1, 2023.
According to the analysis, at the end of 2020, Bank of Communications adjusted the interest calculation method of early withdrawal of "super deposit", from the interest calculation of the file to the interest calculation according to the bank's RMB demand deposit listed interest rate on the date of early withdrawal. In July 2023, Bank of Communications lowered the interest rate of the "Super Deposit" product again, if the opening date of the "Super Deposit" sub-account is August 1, 2023 or later, and the "Super Deposit" sub-account will be automatically redeemed at maturity, the interest rate will be the benchmark interest rate of the central bank for the 3-year individual lump sum deposit plus 020%, previously plus 050%。
Bank of Communications announced that after the shutdown of the "Super Deposit" product, it will no longer provide automatic transfer-in and automatic transfer-out functions. The Super Savings Sub-account that has been opened through automatic transfer will not be affected, and the interest can still be calculated according to the interest calculation rules of the account opening interest rate and the individual lump sum savings deposit account.
After the closure, Bank of Communications will switch the existing excess deposit sub-account to an ordinary individual lump sum deposit deposit account in batches. Before switching, customers can withdraw the "Super Deposit" account in batches in advance, and the principal will be credited to the account in real time, and the interest will be credited to the account the next dayAfter the switchover, the bulk early withdrawal function will no longer be supported.
Banks take the initiativeManagementDeposit productsControlCost of debt
According to the analysis, the deposit products that many banks have voluntarily adjusted are innovative deposits that are different from traditional call deposits and live time deposits, and most of them have the characteristics of automatic rollover and early withdrawal, which are both flexible and profitable. The termination of operations was mostly due to the fact that banks actively managed the cost of liabilities and reduced "high-interest" deposits under the downward pressure of interest rate spreads.
The so-called innovative deposit products of banks refer to deposit products that increase deposit returns or meet the special preferences of investors on the basis of traditional bank deposit products such as demand and fixed deposits, and adopt methods such as changing the interest calculation method and linking with other targets, such as smart deposits and structured deposits. *Yang Changhan, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Business School of the University of Finance and Economics, mentioned.
He said that innovative deposits may have higher yields and good liquidity, but some products also have the characteristics of unstable returns and strict policy supervision. Some innovative deposit products have been suspended, adjusted and removed from the shelves, mainly due to regulatory requirements and banks' own management objectives. In addition, for banks, standardizing, stabilizing and expanding mainstream deposit liabilities is the main way to attract savings and manage liabilities.
Zhao Tingchen, a researcher at the Bank of China Research Institute, pointed out that before 2019, some banks issued innovative deposit products such as demand deposits with interest on file, time deposit early withdrawal and periodic interest payment for deposits. The real interest rate of related products is higher than the interest rate of deposit products of the same maturity, and was once sought after by investors.
All kinds of innovative deposit products of banks are generally characterized by relatively high interest rates and liquidity, and the cost of funds of banks is high. Zhao Tingchen mentioned that the current pressure on bank interest margins is generally large, and as of the third quarter of 2023, the average of commercial banks has dropped to 173%, down from 1A reasonable range of 8%. The reduction of deposit interest rates is a general trend, and the comprehensive removal of all kinds of innovative deposits is mainly to control the cost of savings.
It is understood that since September 2022, in order to reduce the cost of the liability side, stabilize the level of interest margins, and release space for the subsequent reduction of entity financing costs and support the development of the real economy, national banks have taken the initiative to reduce the listed interest rates of some term deposits four times, and the higher cost of medium and long-term time deposits has dropped the most, and small and medium-sized banks have also followed up with the reduction.
Yang Changhan analyzed that on the use of bank funds, the policy orientation and market trend are to reduce the financing cost of the real economy. On the bank capital side, it is necessary to reduce the cost of debt to match the reduction of the loan interest rate on the capital utilization side. The main business tool of bank liabilities is deposits, and all kinds of deposits tend to decline in stages under the guidance of market interest rates. The interest rates on various types of bank fixed deposits have been reduced by a large margin, and the design orientation of demand deposits, various types of fixed deposit interest rates and innovative deposit interest rates has also lowered the interest rate or yield level.
Under the trend of lower deposit interest rates and residents' willingness to save is still strong, in order to strengthen the cost control of the liability side, innovative deposit products with relatively high interest rates have also been "terminated".
Text: Qian Xiaorui.