i suppose ICBC is better than BOC. you could see a lot of branches of ICBC in the city compared to BOC. and after all they offer english service in all their branches of ICBC.

BOC?

Be afraid, be very afraid.

I've only had bad experiences with BOC and would not recommend it to anyone. Basically, if you lose anything or forget your password you can only get all these problems sorted at your official branch - no other branch will help you. They seem to work on separate archaic computer systems from branch to branch which arenen't linked to one central database or something... it just makes no sense. So if you move to another city, you have to close your account and re-open a new one in the new city - talk about a headache!

Oh and don't even get me started on the drama when you lose your bank card and need to a) freeze the account and b) get a new card. I discovered my wallet was gone at the airport while en route home for 3 weeks. I tried to cancel the card from the airport but could only freeze it for 5 days. So every 5 days, I had to re-freeze it from abroad until I got back to China to sort it out in person in my branch. And the new card took over a month to arrive. I get angry even just thinking about it...

BOC clearly does not know how to run a bank effeciently.

I like ICBC cause back home in Canada I can use my ICBC card at the Canadian Bank, CIBC (Freaky, eh?) machines, which are all over, and take out something like 1,000 CAD a day. It's great when I'm at home.

I set up an account in ICBC in 5 minutes without even getting to practice my Chinese, not even a word was exchanged.