A banking fiasco
Have I ever had a good banking experience in China?
If you’ve been listening to my daily podcast for the last week or so you’ll have no doubt have encountered several episodes where I went completely livid on the current state of a bank transfer. Well, after much going back and forth, I’m happy to say that I got my money back… shy a few renminbi due to exchange conversion.
If you don’t like profanity, I’d suggest you skip out on those episodes but the message is still important: your money, your problem.
At issue was the fact I was trying a new method to send money to Canada using a service called SkyRemit. It’s a new online service that boasts a simple and easy method for foreigners residing in China to send money overseas. I’d heard of it before but was skeptical of trying anything new, especially as it pertains to sending large amounts of money. For those purposes I’ve always gone to the bank to wire money as I knew there were checks and balances in place to make sure it would work. And, despite all the paper work, it’s as official as you can get.
However, bank wire transfers are a special breed of patience-testing as it requires you to bring all sorts of documents to the bank, get a number, wait in a queue, and then literally spend an hour or more watch someone stamp papers to process the transaction. There is no online service that the bank offers to foreigners and there is no way to short cut the process. From ensuring the wire transfer form is filled out flawlessly to the mass photocopying of documents (contract, passport, tax info, etc.), it all takes time to go through step by step. All of which would be acceptable if it happened just the first time with subsequent visits copy/pastes of those forms. But no, that process has to happen each and every time. Where do they even file those papers after?
So, when I’d heard that other people had successfully used SkyRemit to send money, I was intrigued but still skeptical.
Although the bank transfers would usually work quickly, they would often push me to the very limits of my patience. It’s often as if they wait to see not if I would lose my patience but when. It’s embarrassing to admit and I don’t like mentioning that because it’s something I have to work on. But after waiting an hour to sit at the window and then waiting another hour while someone stamps papers… I mean, the country has high-speed trains and practically flawless 5G coverage and bank transfers are on done PAPER?!
And so, SkyRemit offered to fill that void and offer that service that we’ve basically all been waiting for. But it was still not to be any easier and would still push the limits of my patience.
Setting up an account was almost easy enough, except for the fact that my tax documents and half of my 2022 employment contract don’t match my current passport. Since I renewed my passport in May of 2022 and despite re-applying for a work visa and re-registering my place of accommodation, was never communicated to the tax office. (This will be another trip I have to make at some point as there doesn’t seem to be an online method to update this info.)
Other people who had successfully used SkyRemit did warn that it could take some time to get things set up right, so I knew there may be some bumps to encounter. But I didn’t think it would fail.
After some back and forth about this document and that document, my SkyRemit account was finally verified. Good, let’s send some money… but first wait for our monthly paycheque (no bi-weekly payments in China.)
Money in, Guangzhou trip paid for, let’s send some money back to Canada so I can start planning that trip again!
That was December 29th, no doubt a day you’d say was a dumb move. But my idea was to at least get the balling rolling and have the money in the system so it could get there the next week AND so I wouldn’t be tempted to spend it.
I’d end up losing 1000 RMB in that transaction. Like, poof!, gone!, and the money never did make it to where it was supposed to go.
How it works is that you send money to SkyRemit and they then send it to an overseas bank which then processes it as a local transfer. So, when I had sent them the money, it was converted into Canadian dollars and for all intents and purposes, was sitting in Canada.
But it couldn’t go any further.
Check you account number, they said. Why do you have two bank names? They asked. Check with your bank, they instructed. Ask them why they are rejecting the transfer, they requested.
And on it went for two weeks before I finally asked for my money back. I say “asked”, but it was more like demanded and threatened to report them to the police, a thought that, when considered again, probably wouldn’t work out and I’d just end up waiting longer for nothing to happen.
What was happening?
Unliked a bank wire transfer which seems to have far more information attached to it, SkyRemit had a simplified form to fill out which looks like this:
Bank Name
Account Number
SWIFT
Transit Number
Recipient Address
Beneficiary state/province
Beneficiary City
Beneficiary post code
I’m familiar with the structure as I’ve been through the process before. I even know where the bank often makes spelling mistakes so I can tell them before they try to put the transfer through.
However, even with Vancouver misspelled to “Vancoucer” and the name of the bank changed by three digits (think: 7 or 4 instead of 1 and how they could get mixed up if you don’t look carefully), the wire transfers always went through. Why? I don’t know! I assumed it was because there were multiple safety checks in place that would ensure the money is routed correctly. And as long as any and all of the information matched up in some way with the information on file, then it would go through.
But I had never used SkyRemit before so I don’t know if they use the same process. It sounds like they don’t, since they said they use a local transfer instead of wire transfer information. It’s at this point I kinda wondered if maybe their company had been flagged for some reason.
To be clear, they are a legit company, owned by Lakala which trades on the Shenzhen exchange (stock code 300773) and are regulated by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), at least according to their home page.
They even offer a comparison of their services:
Given my own experiences going to the bank to write money, this is a service I want to work!
Yet it was not to be as they couldn’t figure out why my account number wasn’t working. They tried a number of combinations but said that the beneficiary bank was rejecting the transfer. I contacted the beneficiary bank and asked if they saw anything being bounced back and they said they saw nothing.
So, after two weeks of waiting and trying, I requested my money back. They said fine… it would take 3-5 business days and would be 500 RMB less than what I sent them.
!#$%#%^&@???
As I mentioned above, the money was already in Canada and so had to be returned to China and converted back into RMB from CAD. Well, wouldn’t you know it, that timeline matches exactly the recent peak and trough of the CAD:
This makes me want to cry, but there is no point. And if you were ever wondering who the “dumb money” is when they talk about market participants, you might just be reading his newsletter.
So, now I’ll have to go to the bank anyway to send the money which will cost not only time but there is no guarantee it will work anyway (who knows, maybe there is something else going on??), and it will cost me another 250 RMB to submit the write transfer.
In total:
Alipay fee: 197 RMB
Loss due to currency conversion: 500
Bank wire transfer fee: 250 RMB
TOTAL = 947 RMB / $181 CAD
*Puts head down in shame.*
It’s things like this that make me think that spending a few hundred RMB on something, eg a bottle of scotch, is okay to do once in a while. There are other ways your money can disappear that are out of your control.
I can say that SkyRemit did remain very professional throughout and their customer service was all done in English, which was better than my broken Chinese I’d be using at the bank. It is a service I’d like to see work because I see how it can save me time, but as of yet, it’s not there.
If you or someone you know is looking to use this service, the only thing I’d recommend doing is start with a small amount, something you won’t care about being tied up until it actually lands in your overseas bank account. Otherwise, not only will you be wondering when your money will arrive at its intended destination but, should it be returned, you’ll lose more on the exchange.
Listen to the daily podcast on Spotify:
In other news, Jamuary continues at skrskimuzik.bandcamp.com till the end of the month. Not sure I will do a listening party as I don’t think the “album” really lends itself to that, but I am looking to begin broadcasting live sets or some other extended play broadcasts in the future.
February’s project is going to be more about structuring a story or something along those lines. I’m aiming for a 90-minute feature length presentation.
Finally, full length episodes of the big podcast are now on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL37zilHXgi_G-1UJ2pbg-3ZPpz2vS2MhE&si=nQbYUyMW9lwk8AIV
I’ll leave it there for this week. I hope you’re well and getting things done in the New Year. The Western holiday season is basically over and I’m told Canada is proper cold now. The Chinese holiday season is just beginning and things will begin shutting down. It’s windy cold here in Beijing, but not as bad as it was in December.
Keep warm and please get in touch if I can correct or clarify anything.
Steve