Hailing from Heilongjiang in northeastern China, Mr Yu, 33, drove halfway across the country trying to get news of his savings. At dawn on July 10, he joined hundreds of savers whose assets at four regional banks have been frozen since mid-April. In Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan in central China, they met in front of the local branch of the People’s Bank (the central bank). In videos shared on social media, they are seen holding banners, proclaiming in white-on-black characters: “No to Henan Government’s Corruption and Violence!” The Chinese dream of 400,000 families has been shattered. »
Shortly before noon, troops of hundreds of men in plain clothes charged into the crowd, and Mr. Yu (he gives only his last name) was beaten up, then dragged onto a bus, a bloody eye. “I put all the family savings in this bank: one million yuan [146 800 euros]. We can’t buy anything anymore.”sighs the man, released a few hours later.
The mobilization has been going on since April 18, when customers of four banks in Henan province discovered they could no longer withdraw their money. On the bank application and in the ATMs, a message indicates that the system is being updated. The central bank is launching an investigation, which implicates a financial platform accused of having “illegally raised funds” on behalf of the four banks. The weeks pass, but the situation gets bogged down. At the end of June, the police announced several arrests: “The case involves old crimes, numerous suspects and a complex scenario”the police statement said.
Not enough to appease savers, more and more of whom are gathering to make their voices heard, a sign that the economic difficulties that the country is going through can quickly translate into the “social instability” so feared by Beijing. Because, behind the four establishments involved, the situation of 4,000 rural banks is worrying, while the economy is weighed down by the zero Covid strategy and by a latent real estate crisis. ” These lesser-known regional banks generally offer high interest to attract savers. They lend the money collected to local governments, state enterprises, but especially to property developers, who take significant risks. Recently, there have been a lot of defaults in real estate”, explains Dan Wang, chief economist at the Hong Kong bank Hang Seng.
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