Affected by regulatory requirementsElcowboymegawaysA number of bank smart call deposit products were completely removed from the shelves on May 15.

From May 13 to 14, the 21st Century Economic report, as a financial consultant, interviewed the branches of Ping an Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank and Minsheng Bank in Chaoyang District of Beijing and learned that at present, the smart notice deposit products of many banks will be removed from the shelves on May 15, and some banks have also removed conventional notice deposit products with higher interest rates. At the same time, although banks have removed the business, they all have their own alternatives: some banks continue to retain such products for private customers with large deposits; some banks recommend customers to buy structured deposit products instead; and some banks upgrade new products on the basis of smart notice deposits.

It has been reported that the smart call deposit business has been removed from the shelves in order to reduce the cost of banks' debt side. Does the volume of business have such a great impact on the liabilities of commercial banks? In this regard, Zhou Maohua, a macro researcher in the Financial Markets Department of Everbright Bank, said that intelligent notice deposit products are suspected of soliciting deposits with high interest rates, although such products account for a small proportion, they may interfere with the competition order of the normal deposit market. Therefore, the purpose of rectification and reform of intelligent notice deposits is to maintain the normal competition order of the deposit market and stabilize the debt cost of banks.

According to our reporter, there are generally two kinds of bank notice deposits, namely, conventional notice deposits and intelligent notice deposits, and the latter is the upgraded version of the former. Regular notice deposits are time deposits with an initial deposit amount of 50,000 yuan, which is divided into one day and seven days. If the deposit period is not agreed, interest will be calculated on the same day. When using the money, you need to notify the transfer period in advance, and the principal and interest will be received one or seven days after the agreement. While the funds of intelligent notice deposits are deposited in demand, the system will automatically calculate interest in accordance with the corresponding interest-bearing rules, and the funds can be used at any time without making an appointment in advance.

In other words, the conventional notice deposit is a kind of simple interest product, which calculates the interest at one time to the withdrawal date, while the intelligent notice deposit can be rolled over automatically and is a compound interest product. For example, a seven-day smart notice deposit will pay interest every seven days, then automatically transfer it, and then settle the interest again after seven days, so on and off. Therefore, the interest rate of intelligent notice deposit is generally higher than that of individual notice deposit, which will increase the capital pressure of banks accordingly.

The customer manager of a branch of Minsheng Bank in Chaoyang said that Minsheng Bank is divided into intelligent notice deposit and notice deposit, in which smart notice deposit is the upgraded version of notice deposit. At present, the business of the bank has not been removed from the shelves. Searching for "notice deposit" in App shows that the initial purchase amount of the above products is 50, 000 yuan, and the deposit interest rate is from 0.Elcowboymegaways.25% to 1.35%.

The financial manager of a branch of China Merchants Bank in Chaoyang District told the 21st Century Business Herald that the bank's smart notice deposit business will be offline on May 15, and May interest will be paid in bulk after the unified closure. According to the interest rate of intelligent notice deposits provided by it, the annual interest rate can reach 1.55% if the day-end balance is more than 5 million yuan (including 5 million yuan) and over seven days; between 500000 yuan (including 500000 yuan) and 5 million yuan for seven days, the annual interest rate can reach 1.35%; between 50,000 yuan (including 50,000 yuan) and 500000 yuan for seven days, the interest rate is 1%. Not less than 50,000 yuan (including 50,000 yuan) for less than seven days or less than 50,000 yuan shall be calculated according to the bank's current annual interest rate of 0.2%.

In addition to the removal of smart call deposit products, some banks have also removed conventional call deposit products with previously high interest rates.

As for Ping an Bank, a senior financial manager told the 21st Century Economic report that the bank's one-day and seven-day notice deposits had previously reached a maximum interest rate of close to 2%, but had stopped signing new contracts. At present, the bank is selling two products aimed at private property customers, with a starting threshold of more than 500000 yuan, with a seven-day notice deposit interest rate of 1.35% and an one-day notice deposit rate of 0.80%. There is also an ordinary notice deposit on sale with an interest rate of 0.80%.

What are the bank wealth management products that can be replaced after the intelligent notice deposit products and some call deposit products are removed from the shelves? Our reporter found that although banks have removed the business, they all have their own alternatives: some banks continue to implement such products for private customers with large deposits; some banks recommend customers to buy structured deposit products instead; and some banks upgrade new products on the basis of smart notice deposits.

According to a reporter from the 21st Century Economic report, the financial manager of China Merchants Bank has launched an alternative intelligent notice deposit product, "Zhicuntong." the part below 50,000 yuan is a demand deposit, which is convenient for users to withdraw. The part above 50,000 yuan can be kept for three months, and the interest rate is 1.65%. However, the product is only for customers who have previously bought notice deposits from China Merchants Bank, and these stock customers can re-sign the contract directly in APP.

According to the information provided by the above-mentioned financial managers, the Zhichuatong agreement is valid for 2 years, and the agreement may be automatically extended for 2 years on the last natural day before it expires; if there is no smart deposit certificate at this time, the agreement will expire automatically and will not be implemented after expiration.

The senior financial manager of Ping an Bank recommends that users can buy structured deposits instead of smart notice deposits, such as Ping an Bank's "step by step" series. Take the "Ji Hui win" linked gold B 98-day product as an example, the initial purchase amount is 10,000 yuan, the investment period is about three months, and the expected annualized interest rate will fall in three ranges, namely, 1.10%, 2.35%, and 2.45%. Judging from the manager's past experience, interest rates usually fall in the second range after investors buy. The manager said that the investment period of structured deposits is generally shorter than that of term deposits, ranging from more than ten days to more than 100 days, which meets the needs of customers to withdraw flexibly, and their interest rates are generally higher than demand deposits. therefore, it is one of the better alternatives to smart deposit products.

It is worth noting that according to our reporter, Everbright Bank recently issued text messages to customers, "deposit every day" and "weekly deposit" products will cease operation on May 15. Everbright Bank suggests that customers can upgrade their "quarterly deposits", protect capital and interest, and withdraw at any time, with an annual interest rate of 1.65%. According to the previous introduction of Everbright Bank, both "daily deposit" and "weekly deposit" are automatic roll-over deposits, which are actually intelligent notice deposit products. In other words, Everbright Bank uses Quarterly Deposit as a substitute for smart call deposits.

According to the App of Everbright Bank, the initial deposit amount of "quarterly deposit" is 500 yuan, that is, in addition to the current retention amount, 500 yuan can be deposited into the quarterly deposit account. The part over 500 yuan is a three-month time deposit, which is automatically transferred every three months. the deposit is interest-bearing on the same day and has income on weekends and holidays, with an annual interest rate of 1.60% and 1.65%. At the same time, the user can withdraw flexibly, and there is no restriction on large amount of access.

As for the reasons for the removal of the intelligent notice deposit business, a number of bank wealth managers told the 21st Century Economic report that they were "notified" and "regulatory requirements".

In fact, as early as May 2023, regulators issued a document to adjust the self-regulatory limits on agreed deposits and notice deposits, in which large state-owned banks increase the benchmark interest rate by 10 basis points and other financial institutions increase the benchmark interest rate by 20 basis points. At the same time, supervision requires banks to stop operating notice deposits that do not require customer operation and are intelligently rolled over automatically.

On May 9, Qingdao Jimo Huimin Village and Town Bank issued a relevant notice on the official WeChat account, saying that the policy of implementing the transition period of one year in accordance with the original interest rate, the stock of notice deposits and interest deposits (reporter's note: interest deposits are intelligent notice deposit products) will automatically terminate on May 15, 2024. This also shows that the recent removal of smart notice deposits by banks is mainly due to the end of the regulatory transition period.

In addition to ending the business of personal smart deposits, public smart deposits are also included in the adjustment. In early April, the market interest rate pricing self-discipline mechanism issued the proposal to prohibit the maintenance of deposit market competition order by manually collecting deposits with high interest rates. The initiative requires banks "not to promise or pay to customers in any form supplementary interest rates that exceed the authorized upper limit of deposit rates" and to "complete rectification by the end of April 2024".

On April 30, Everbright Bank issued a notice on Everbright Bank's RMB agreed deposits and the adjustment of public week plans and other products, according to the announcement: from May 15, 2024, if the customer RMB agreed deposit rate is higher than 1.15%, the system will automatically calculate the interest in segments and adjust the agreed interest rate to 1.15%. The accounts of automatic roll-over notice deposits such as public week plan, public smart deposit A (3-day 7-day deposit) and public smart deposit B (7-day deposit) will stop automatically rolling over notice deposits from May 15, 2024, and the funds of rolled-over notice deposits will be transferred back to the signing current account after maturity, and then the system will automatically terminate the contract, and if there is any interest outstanding, it will be settled according to the bank's current listing rate.

Several media reported that behind the reform of smart notice deposits, the deposit type has pushed up the interest rates of commercial banks, and such products have been removed in order to reduce the pressure on the debt side of banks. So, can the volume of the business have such a great impact on the liabilities of commercial banks?

In this regard, Zhou Maohua, a macro researcher in the Financial Markets Department of Everbright Bank, told the 21st Century Economic report that the product mainly provides depositors with convenience for demand deposits and pays interest according to fixed deposits as far as possible. Compared with the previous deposit market products, this product actually has the suspicion of taking deposits at high interest rates.

"although such products account for a small proportion, they may interfere with the competitive order of the normal deposit market." Zhou Maohua believes that the rectification and reform of smart notice deposits is to maintain the normal competition order of the deposit market, stabilize the debt costs of banks, and further expand the space for the real economy for banks and financial institutions. At the same time, promote banks and financial institutions to enhance the adaptability of high-quality development of the real economy, cultivate differentiated competitive advantages, and so on.

(our reporter Li Yi also contributed to this article.)