Chinabank Internet Banking

China Banking Corporation (CBC) or Chinabank, for short, is one of the older local banks but is a relatively newcomer to the online world. Its corporate website is http://www.chinabank.ph and its Chinabank Online Internet banking website is https://online.chinabank.ph.

The Chinabank Online website is functional although it can be a bit slow most of the time. Its graphical interface is also a bit old. What I really find annoying about its interface is when you click on the Retail User Login link at Chinabank Online, it pops open a new, full-screen browser window instead of just using the existing one.

Without doing much guesswork, one can easily tell that Chinabank Online is running on a Sun technology platform. They did not bother to change the Sun logo that appears on the browser's title or tab bar. Looking a bit more under-the-hood shows that their web server is the Sun ONE Web Server v6.1, the web server formerly known as Netscape Enterprise Server.

The standard features one would expect from Internet banking are all here: balance inquiry; viewing of transaction history; bills payment; funds transfer to own or 3rd party accounts. Transfers to 3rd party accounts are limited to PHP50,000 a day. Aside from the standard user id and login password, Chinabank Online also requires a transaction password when performing tasks such as funds transfer. This transaction password is different from the login password for added security.

Chinabank is owned by the Sy Group of SM and Banco de Oro (BDO). It recently opened its thrift banking subsidiary, Chinabank Savings. Chinabank Savings currently does not have Internet banking facilities. Chinabank is one of the earliest members of the Bancnet ATM consortium. The minimum maintaining balance for a personal savings ATM account is only PHP1,000, one of the lowest in the local market.

Chinabank account holders can make purchases from Dragonpay merchants using their Chinabank Online account. Chinabank customers who do not have access yet to Chinabank Online Internet banking can simply go to their branch and request for one. The facility is provided by the bank at no extra charge. Activation over-the-ATM-machine only takes a day.