In Shandong Binzhou, a depositor visited the Haitong branch of the Wudi Rural Commercial Bank to withdraw 29,000 RMB in cash, but was met with repeated inquiries from the teller, even prompting a police investigation into the purpose of the withdrawal. This caused dissatisfaction among the depositor, who believed their time was being wasted and their business was being affected. Bank staff from Wudi Rural Commercial Bank confirmed the need for an appointment, citing tight funding before the Chinese New Year as the reason for a potential shortage of cash.
On January 6, a man in Binzhou, Shandong, filmed a video claiming that he went to the bank counter to withdraw 29,000 RMB, only to be surprised by the bank’s request to investigate the depositor’s income information and the purpose of the withdrawal.
In the 44-second video filmed by the man in the bank’s lobby, he appeared to be expressing his situation to a bank official: “I came to withdraw money, the teller asked for my information, my transfer records, now they are investigating, I can’t even conduct my business because the bank has delayed me too much.”
“They won’t let me withdraw money, they need to verify information, ask where my money came from, what I want to spend it on. I want to withdraw 29,000, you called the police, not only investigating my information, but also calling my clients, which has caused my clients to distrust me and resulted in losses for me.”
On January 7, nearing noon, the man updated another video expressing dissatisfaction with the bank’s actions. “I want to withdraw my own money, the bank won’t let me withdraw cash, and they even called the police to investigate detailed information about the customer.”
According to a report by Huashang News on January 7, inquiries were made to the Chengkou branch of the Wudi Rural Commercial Bank in Binzhou, Shandong about whether an appointment was needed to withdraw more than 20,000 RMB. The staff confirmed the need for an appointment, stating, “Due to the tight funding before the New Year, we are afraid that there may not be enough cash available.”
Regarding whether depositors need to report the purpose of their withdrawals to the bank, the staff gave a positive response, stating, “It is just to verify at the counter, it’s not a requirement, we are ensuring the security of our customers’ funds.”
The report mentioned that the bank’s phone number shown in the video was identified by the staff as the office phone of the Haitong branch of the Wudi Rural Commercial Bank. However, multiple attempts to call resulted in a busy signal.
A staff member from the Chengkou branch of the Wudi Rural Commercial Bank provided the contact number for the bank, stating, “This is the phone number of our unit’s spokesperson.”
On the afternoon of January 7, multiple calls to the spokesperson went unanswered.
A staff member from the Wudi Rural Commercial Bank mentioned, “Our leadership is in a meeting, so it may be inconvenient to answer calls. Please wait for a moment, I will go to the meeting room to inform our leaders.”
Later, the bank’s spokesperson responded that the bank had verified the relevant situation regarding the customer’s feedback. It was confirmed that the incident occurred at the Haitong branch of the bank on January 6.
When asked if it was necessary to notify the bank in advance for withdrawals exceeding 20,000 RMB, the spokesperson clearly stated that it was not required. As for whether the purpose of withdrawing money needed to be reported, the response was, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk about this right now.”
On January 7, Wudi Rural Commercial Bank responded that the teller’s actions were to protect the safety of customer funds. After verifying no discrepancies with the Anti-Fraud Center, the bank provided the depositor with the cash withdrawal.