• outlets .. 132 in Beijing, far more than HSBC
• nearest branch 68784030 (9-17:30)
• hotline +86-755-95555 … after 12 am emergency services only.
• FB_balance $0
• webank is discouraged. Mobank is recommended.
• Transfer-out is Rmb20k/day

— j4 CMB

• j4: ChannelA 0.5% fee, max Rmb60 for 10k withdrawal.
• #1 j4 (over PSBC): keep wife’s ChannelA /operable/ when PSBC is frozen? Hopefully
• j4 (over PSBC): no 绑定码
• j4 (over PSBC): no NRIC needed on every flight to China
• j4 (over PSBC): more “foreigner-friendly”
• j4 (over PSBC): can open account for age 16-17
• j4 (over PSBC): can open account for age 11, under custody

— account opening .. passport + smrz mobileNum
— mobileNum needs smrz .. Rmb180 can last 2 years.
For Zofia, can set up long-term number at T3 ChnM. Optionally, when we have time, transfer #178 to her. Updating mobileNum is fast but must go to branch, with smrz proof of new number.

— age 11: Option P: Parent can give his smrz mobile number + [ official birth cert + both passports to show relationship] but the birth cert need 海牙认证.

For meimei, this is too complicated due to name change.
— age 16-17: Better give a good reason like wcpay/alipay, and overseas card spend

• Option P
• Option 1: If you can get a smrz-mobileNum then the accont can be opened and usable for ChannelA. For boy, can set up a temp 14D mobileNum at T3 Unicom. In Singapore, quickly log in (not required) and start ChannelA. Even after mobileNum expires, we can still transfer in and use ChannelA.
• Option 3: 非实名认证手机号 might be usable to open the account, with “lower” transaction limits

— What if mobileNum expired? Can transfer in and withdraw, as confirmed with hotline

• balance check on overseas ATM .. should be FOC
• balance check via phone banking automated.. requires 查询PIN + card number
• balance check via phone banking live agent .. requires 查询PIN + card number

 

One of the best [1] channels of ex_China is ChannelX — I transfer Rmb from my China bank to a friend’s China bank

[1] best in terms of SAFE sensitivity, physical safety, SAFE quota.

In general I always want to buy SGD (lower); my friend always wants to sell SGD (higher). When we settle at a mid-market rate, I get a better (lower) price than UnionPay and my friend gets a better (higher) price than BOC or any remittance.

— the mid-market rate, treating SGD as asset:

• banks sell-high .. Every day, Unionpay publishes a (higher) sell-SGD price
• banks buy-low … Every day, BOC published a (lower) buy-SGD price for SGD remittance to China
• .. PandaRemittance competes wth BOC, like a low-cost bank, offering competitive (higher) buy-SGD price

 

• signature is all-cap, same as icbc
• account name is per passport
• somehow failed to bind to wcpay. Alipay OK
• 95533 hotline 24/7
• pull-interbank .. probably unavailable to passport holders

— todo .. Add CCB card to wcpay. Need to call wcpay.
— J4 yet another account i.e. CCB .. If no real j4, then we can leave it dormant… harmless

• give this card to family members
• USP.. webank-without-mobank-or-smsOtp. I hate the dependency on mobank app
• no smsOtp for log-in
• branch is near DJDJ

— 6m_inactivity require in/out transaction hitting the card

• In CCB mobank, I set up the ICBC (but not psbc) card (as external bank card) and managed to pull R0.01 from it.
• In ICBC mobank, I set up this CCB card and managed to transfer to it.
• In psbc mobank, I set up this CCB card and managed to transfer to it.

In ICBC and PSBC mobank, I was unable to set up automated pull-from-CCB

In CCB mobank, I was unable to set up automated pull-from any bank.

— auth
log in for mobank/webank: t133xxxx similar to other China banks
no 9-dot to log in
no smsOtp to log in

ATM pin: 6-digit

Tested.. webank login name can be (1) passportNum (2) tigxxx0 (3) mobileNum [no smsOTP 🙂 ]

Office PC takes a minute to load..

本人 —- 身份证号 —— 卡号 ——-
委托 TAN BIN, 护照 —— ，于2025年3月办理电汇
— 万美元至

汇丰中国 TAN BIN 账户 || ICBC 新加坡

(Signature)

SAFE[外管局] surveillance applies across all TT, FX cash withdrawal and all 购汇 [currency conversion]. SAFE Surveillance “model” is a blackbox for our speculation. Frequent or large TTr  -> higher risk of surveillance? No one knows for sure.

HSBC staff pointed out frequency of transfers IS acctually a SAFE parameter. Favor fewer larger transfers rather than frequent small transfers.

Q (to HSBC.cn): Suppose every year I deposit exactly $50k then transfer it out to Singpaore, will SAFE model grow suspicious after a few years?
A(from HSBC.cn): Fine if you declare USD salary as ultimate source of fund. No (historical) evidence required.

Risk of hitting 证明材料 is higher during TTr than during 购汇. So Channel520 and ChannelA are relatively safe.. no “purpose” required by SAFE.

SAFE Sensitivity ranking… a 2024 summary of ex_China.xlsx:

1. channelM i.e. TTr for China citizens
2. USD withdrawal .. Can try 6M after the 7 Jan freeze of grandpa
3. channelH i.e. cash deposit then TTr for passport holders
4. channelA for China citizens .. relatively small amounts each time
5. buying USD without withdrawal .. no fund leaving the local banking system. Low sensitivity.

— official Purpose .. When buying USD on mobank, you can choose any “purpose”. Recorded in system, but no surveillance check at this juncture.

When you TT or withdraw, bank system would send a realtime request to  SAFE. At this junctur  SAFE model (not human) would decide in real time whether to demand relevant evidence (证明材料). If it does, you would be stuck.

• medical purpose .. I hope we could show our Singapore medical bills.
• education purpose .. I hope to get a pdf doc from an international school showing my kids’ name or my name.
• tourist purpose .. a common purpose but may not be good for GP/GM.

— individual’s profile in the surveillance system .. Just about everthing Any national citizen does is captured by the SAFE surveillance system. If you get questioned but shows a clean profile [background, history], then enquirers would presumably give you the benefit of the doubt for the first offense. Grandparents have clean profiles. My profile is clean .. consists of HSBC.cn deposits and global transfers.

Sugg: Protect your profiles. Stay below their radar. Don’t attract attention like breaching 100k/Y ChannalA quota, frequent overseas transfers.

Luckily, Channel520 is traceless and not captured in the profiling “system”. Channel520 is by far the safest (except the USD withdrawal) because SAFE has no idea of When, From/To and HowMuch.

ChannelA is relatively low-risk. I think ChannelA is widely perceived as similar to “card purchase overseas”. However,  anyone hitting close to 100% of quota gives the appearance of fund extraction, and can trigger the SAFE model.

— If multiple individuals send to the same account, then risk is higher. Yong.Yang shared a personal story — 8 individuals (eight, all Chinese nationals) each sent $50k to One overseas account. SAFE suspended all of their individual permissions for 2Y, but still released the 400k (50k x 8) without financial loss.

• Better ask wife to open a USD account in ICBC.sg.
• HSBC.sg
• Boc.sg
• Citi.sg .. $3/check?

See email to sister about Peter Tan.