Banking License in China

Issuing credit/debit bankcards

Acting as a custodian for securities investment funds

Asset management and wealth management products

Derivatives trading

Electronic and digital banking function

Parent foreign commercial banks must fulfill strict capital adequacy ratios defined by both their home regulators and the NFRA;

Operating ongoing revenue-generating operations requires a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE), Joint Venture (JV), or an authorized Foreign Bank Branch. Virtual offices are strictly banned; banks must hold an identifiable physical lease subject to on-site regulatory inspections;

The bank must be registered under the 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code (USCC), which binds the financial institution across tax, customs, and banking systems.

Board directors, the Legal Representative, and senior executives (CEO, CFO, Chief Risk Officer) must undergo rigorous fit-and-proper testing by the NFRA. They must possess clean legal/professional histories, valid educational backgrounds, and verified competence;

The bank's designated Legal Representative carries immense corporate liability and must usually be physically present in mainland China to open primary corporate accounts and manage state filings;

Recent administrative measures dictate that banks must appoint dedicated license management personnel at both the head office and local branch levels to oversee compliance, conduct mandatory annual self-inspections, and file regulatory reports;

Dedicated, qualified staff must be hired internally to operate the bank's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) transaction-monitoring programs.

Under the Guidelines for Information Technology Risk Management of Commercial Banks, a bank must independently operate its core computing systems (housing customer identity, financial data, and product records) within mainland China;

Global cloud credentials cannot be integrated directly. Financial information must be processed using localized cloud environments with servers physically located inside China;

Cybersecurity & Data Protection Compliance:

• Banks must achieve compliance under the Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS) and complete annual Classified Protection Assessments;

• Security patches must be deployed instantly, user activity logs must be maintained for a minimum of 60 days, and end-to-end data encryption is required;

• Strict cybersecurity incident reporting rules apply: banks must report critical system failures or data breaches to the regulator within 2 hours.

Systems must utilize approved commercial cryptography frameworks under domestic security assessment cycles

Basic Account:

• Mandatory primary account for daily operations, cash withdrawals, and tax payments

• Strictly limited to one per company

General Account:

• Secondary operational account for loans and localized management

• Cannot withdraw cash.

Capital Account:

Dedicated to receiving foreign registered capital injections in foreign currency.

The 18-digit USCC acts as the universal tax ID and corporate identifier across all banking and customs platforms

Operating bank accounts must integrate cleanly with local tax bureaus for real-time transaction tracking and VAT fapiao (invoice) issuance

Monthly and quarterly statutory accounting books must be maintained under China GAAP, regardless of profitability