CBIRC to Include Services for the Elderly in Regulatory Assessments of Chinese Banks

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The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has announced that it will assess the ability of Chinese banks to provide financial services that are appropriate for elderly citizens.

Guo Wuping (郭武平), head of CBIRC’s consumer rights department, said that CBIRC would guide financial institutions in transforming their services for the elderly, in order to address some of the difficulties that they may experience in using new forms of smart technology.

CBIRC will also outline “regulatory redlines”, such as banning banks from forcing elderly people to use credit cards or self-service smart facilities.

The authority will also include the ability of banking and insurance financial institutions to provide services to the elderly in its annual consumer protection assessments (CPA).

Guo made the remarks on 8 July at a press conference held by the regulator.

“CBIRC will actively guide banking and insurance institutions to resolve the difficulties of the elderly, and require that they retain and improve traditional service models and raise the suitability of smart products for the elderly,” said Guo.

“For example, multiple banks have improved their mobile banking for the elderly, and the hotlines of some financial institutions can automatically identify whether financial consumers are over 65 years of age, and directly guide them to a human operator.”