Banks expand to offer easy access to government services

Shanghai residents and firms will have easier access to government services through their local bank branches as banks expand beyond their traditional services.

The Shanghai branch of the Bank of Communications, together with the local government and the Shanghai Big Data Center, on Thursday launched 124 business-handling and inquiry services and 608 license inquiry and printing services at its 132 outlets and 417 self-service machines across the city.

Citizens can easily deal with services such as social security, medical and health care, education and household registration after confirming their identity with the bank's self-service devices.

This month, the bank opened the first batch of inquiry service functions in 30 of its outlets for the city's one-stop online-offline service system.

Now, all government affairs inquiry functions will be available at all the bank's outlets and free license printing will also be available.

China Construction Bank and Bank of China also introduced similar services, according to media reports.

Credit: Ti Gong