Machines ease rural residents鈥 cash needs
Print Edition
While Chinese city dwellers move toward a cashless society by using mobile payments, many rural residents still face difficulties with withdrawing money because of a lack of cash machines.
Wang Wenzheng is from the village of Daping, located deep in a mountain more than 2,500 meters high in Hezheng County in northwest Gansu Province. It is one of the poorest areas in China and is sparsely populated, making it hard for banks to install cash machines there.
鈥淲e are not used to mobile payments here,鈥 Wang said. 鈥淔or years, we had to climb over mountains just to deposit, withdraw or transfer money.鈥
Soon, more people like Wang will bid farewell to the ordeal of accessing financial services, as Chinese financial supervisors are trialling inclusive and low-cost financial services in the countryside.
In Gansu, banks have joined hands with shop owners in towns and villages by giving them point-of-sale (POS) machines. Locals can deposit, withdraw or transfer money via the machines, solving the problem of having to install cash machines at high cost.
More than 21,300 POS machines have been installed in the province, providing basic financial services to more than 22 million rural residents, said the Lanzhou branch of the People鈥檚 Bank of China.
The financial services site in Wang鈥檚 village opened in 2013 in a small shop. The shop owner, Li Xiulan, installed a phone-like POS device with the bank鈥檚 help. With the POS machine, villagers no longer have to travel over scores of mountain roads to handle transactions less than 5,000 yuan (US$752).
鈥淰illagers usually come to withdraw money, and then buy some daily commodities in my shop,鈥 Li said. 鈥淭his has also increased my business.鈥
The process is quite simple: when a villager comes to withdraw money, he transfers money from his debit card into Li鈥檚 account, and then Li gives cash to the villager. For a deposit, the villager gives cash to Li, who then transfers the money to the person鈥檚 bank account.
Just a few months ago, Wang went down the mountains with his truck, but his vehicle ran out of gas when he reached the nearby town.
鈥淚 did not have enough cash, and I do not know how to use mobile payments,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o I just called home, and my family transferred 500 yuan to me via the POS machine in our village.鈥
Many towns and villages in Gansu did not have such inclusive services until 2012. Today, six banks in Gansu have jumped on the bandwagon, and they have expanded their services from money withdrawal and balance inquiry to remittance, money transfer, payment for daily services and repayment of loans.
In the first nine months this year, residents made about 120,000 withdrawals with a total amount of 66.5 million yuan via the inclusive service sites in Gansu.
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