A far-flung branch gives plenty of choice amid tide of change. Zhang Yunbi reports from Sansha city.

The new building of the Sansha branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. [Photo/81.cn]

ATM machines, VIP rooms, an air-conditioned waiting room. These are common features in all city banks but the bank on Yongxing Island, host of the country's southernmost city government of Sansha, is not a typical city bank. These modern-day trappings are not taken for granted.

Luo Haiyun, 43, the Sansha branch chief of Chinese banking giant Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), told China Daily that the services provided on the island can now match those on offer anywhere. The various financial products are increasingly popular with the customers, many of whom are trying their hand at being entrepreneurs.

"The financial products offered by our bank have been welcomed by the islanders for years. One of the most popular products - Xinjinyi 1 (which means "Profitable Wage 1" in Chinese) - accounts for 10 percent of the total deposits in our branch," Luo said.

In the central part of Beijing Road, a major commercial hub on the island, stands the well-adorned ICBC branch, which is currently the only one that has been officially put into use.

"Now, there is no difference between the services provided on the island and those by branches outside, as we have all the needed functions in place and operations have been fully networked," Luo said.

The bank is now assisting fishermen's plans to shift to other businesses, such as restaurants and processing seafood, and the services include the installment of point-of-sale machines and loans.

"In the past, they only sold seafood. Now they are capable of processing the seafood, and sales have surged," Luo said.

Unique flavor

Partly due to increased business and growing local demand, Beijing Road is also home to ATM machines or 24-hour automatic banking outposts of other banks.

Close by will be the branch of another Chinese banking giant - the Bank of China, which is waiting to be officially inaugurated after approval for its operation was announced earlier this year.

Unlike the crowded halls of a typical banking branch in more densely populated mainland cities, the ICBC Sansha branch is a picture of order and efficiency.

Thanks to the small population and good public security climate, the branch does not even need a guard to maintain order.

Of course, surveillance cameras are still working. The customers - often clerks and fishermen - sit in chairs to await their turn. It may be humid outside, but every corner in the hall is air-conditioned.

But the outside world is encroaching. At the ATM a poster warns users against phone fraud.