Explainer | What you need to know about the Henan banking crisis
- Customers at four rural banks in Henan province and one in neighbouring Anhui protested after being cut off from their savings since April
- President Xi Jinping has placed economic stability as a top priority and vowed to strengthen supervision within the state-dominated financial system
How did the Henan banking crisis start?
The cash crisis began to unfold when savers were denied access to their accounts at a number of rural banks in Henan and Anhui provinces due to a system upgrade on April 18.
Since then, deposits at Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng in Henan province and Guzhen Xinhuaihe Village Bank in the neighbouring Anhui province have been affected.
Chinese regulators have not confirmed the amount of money that has been frozen, but depositors that have formed groups on various social media platforms to air their grievances claim the figure totals tens of billions of yuan.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in April that relevant departments had launched investigations into the four banks.
The central bank also stressed that it would cooperate with relevant departments to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
How did the Henan banking crisis escalate?
