CCB announced today that CCB, in compliance with the provisions of the Price Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Interim Rules governing Service Charges of Commercial Banks, decided to charge fees for cross-bank and cross-border inquires from June 1, 2006 in order to make up for the cost and improve the quality of services and to adjust charges on cross-border withdrawal of cash. On May 18, CCB issued public notices concerning this matter through various channels including its outlets, website, telephone banking, and customer statement.

It is reported that the rates are as follows: 1) CCB will charge 0.3 yuan per inquiry conducted by Long Card holders at the ATMs of other banks in China; 2) CCB will charge 4 yuan per inquiry conducted by Long Card holders at the ATMs of banks overseas in the Bank Union Pay networks; 3) CCB will charge 12 yuan plus 1% of the total amount of cash withdrawn by Long Card holders at the ATMs of banks overseas in the Bank Union Pay networks.

CCB reminds cardholders that the rates for cash withdrawal at the ATMs of some developed countries, including but not limited to Japan and the United States, are pretty high. The processors will charge the Bank Union Pay cardholders extra processing fees for the cash withdrawal at the ATMs in these countries. The reminder of the processor will be placed at a striking place (at the ATM or below the Bank Union Pay logo), please read the reminder carefully and then decide whether to withdraw cash at this ATM. If you continue to proceed with the transaction, the processor will deem that you agree to pay the extra amount processing fees, which will be included in the principal during settlement.

CCB specially reminds cardholders that CCB will not charge Long Card holders fees for the inquiry at the ATMs of CCB for the moment. Long Card holders may inquire their accounts through CCB’s telephone banking (customer service hotline: 95533) and on-line banking (www.ccb.cn) for free. We welcome the Long Card holders to inquire their account information through above channels. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call our customer service center at 95533.

CCB indicated that the main goal of charging inquiry fees are to improve the success rate of cross-bank transactions and urge the parties concerned to improve their quality of service. We hope to use the price as the lever to encourage the card holders to use the inquiry channels offered by the issuing bank, reduce unnecessary cross-bank inquiries, decrease the occupation of network resources, and improve the success rate of cross-bank transactions. Cross-bank inquiries are not inevitable choices of cardholders, who may inquiry their account information at the issuing bank without paying any processing fees. Therefore, such practice will not necessarily exert economic pressure on cardholders.