Industrial & Commercial Bank of China will double its charges for taking out cash from other bank cards at its automatic teller machines from November, the bank said yesterday.

The bank, which has the broadest banking network in China, said yesterday that its fees for ATM cash withdrawals on the mainland will vary from two yuan (27 US cents) to four yuan from November 1, without clarifying what will trigger the fees.

The Beijing-based bank said later that in places where rivals charge higher fees, it will follow the trend and ask for more than two yuan.

Bank of China charges four yuan on each cash withdrawal in Liaoning and Hunan provinces, and the Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank also charge four yuan in Guangdong Province.

Most banks in Shanghai now charge two yuan for each withdrawal.

Banks may charge more on ATM cash withdrawals from other banks.

In a rule effective since March 1, 2004, banks pay three yuan to agency banks for each trans-bank ATM cash withdrawal and pay another 0.6 yuan to China UnionPay Co, the country's sole bank card system operator.

That means the cost of trans-bank cash withdrawals is 3.6 yuan.

ICBC will charge four yuan for overseas ATM account inquiries from November.

ICBC, the world's biggest lender in terms of market value, has 16,997 outlets on the Chinese mainland with 98 overseas outlets at the end of 2006. The bank serves 170 million personal clients.

It had a 15-percent market share of the country's individual loans and 19.7 percent of the country's personal deposits market at the end of 2006.

(Shanghai Daily October 11, 2007)