Banks can use technology to help fight graft
Print Edition
Recently I went to the bank to handle some personal business. Specifically, I went to the Taolin Road (on Zhangyang Road) branch of a large state-owned bank.
Upon entering, a security staff member asked me to produce my identification card so it could be scanned by a computer. After the scan, I was given a numbered slip of paper with the identifier A0034 marking my place in the queue for counter service.
The slip also contained text saying: “There are nine people ahead of you in your category.”
I didn’t know what this “A” stood for, but, I reasoned, if teachers like “A” students, surely banks would have a preference for “A” customers. Anyway, I have been dealing with this bank for decades.
I sat down and began reading a book. I became a bit uneasy almost an hour later as I looked up and saw that several people who had arrived much later were being called to the counter before me.
Eventually, it was my turn! My business was finished in a couple of minutes, but just as the clerk was about to push the button to summon the next client, I fired a parting shot.
“By the way, according to what principle is the customer queue arranged?”
“Well, it depends on the number of your stars,” the clerk answered.
“How many stars do I have?”
“It’s decided by the computer.”
With some reluctance, she eventually revealed that each customer’s star-rating is determined by the size of their account. Purchasing insurance policies or other financial products can also elevate an individual’s star status.
I left the bank in a huff.
We usually say that knowledge is power, but knowledge can also bring unhappiness. I left the bank feeling as if I had done something wrong.
We are wont to pay tribute to the benefits of technology. But in this case, the computer has become a tool to help bankers systematically discriminate against clients. In the good old days, if someone jumped the line in a bank, he had to come up with a better excuse than “I have more money than you!”
But technology is now helping the rich get even further ahead without anyone being the wiser. In fact, the computer can update and realign a queue in real time. Depending on the number of wealthy people that strut in after you, the “nine” people ahead of you could mean nineteen — or even ninety.
While looking into the afore-mentioned bank online, I came across a message recounting a similar experience.
A person claiming to be a customer said he waited for some two-and-a-half hours for service, despite being told there was only one customer ahead of him. This simply does not seem right to people like me who grew up believing that the concept of “serve the people” was the highest ideal.
In a more perfect world, one’s bank account might be a measure of competence, hard work or even societal contribution. But this is hardly the case in a context where wealth tends to be accumulated by cutting corners, cheating, or offering or taking bribes.
Wealth as gauge of success
If one possesses the skills to force one’s way to the top, the results justify the means. Similarly, the rich are unquestioningly perceived as successful and celebrated as wealth creators, with the media and local governments both eager to eulogize their entrepreneurial chutzpah. But a state-owned institution has a moral obligation — as well as the resources — to repudiate such superstitions and humble those who became rich through unscrupulous means.
For years there have been speculations as to when civil servants would make their assets transparent to the masters they serve. If a bank can easily calculate my net worth by scanning my ID card, this suggests that with proper networking all civil servants’ assets with Chinese banks can be immediately calculated.
For those with unusually large accounts, the bank should, instead of allowing the clients to be served first, make them wait longer, so as to alert disciplinarian or tax authorities for a background check.
Those with reason to fear such a check will have to make a choice between stashing their money at home or laundering it somewhere, both of which can be inconvenient and risky.
As revealed in a Xinhua commentary published on this page on March 4, although China has experienced almost four decades of breakneck economic growth, over 70 million people remain under the poverty line. And make no mistake: Some of our compatriots remain poor exactly because a very small percentage of their fellow Chinese have become so obscenely rich.
By participating in the ongoing antigraft campaign, China’s state-owned banks could provide a vital service to the people by slowing down the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and easing pandemic anxieties over the gaping gap between the haves and have-nots.
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