Urgent weekend cash needs but the stock market is "closed"? Several brokerages are testing 24/7 bank-stock transfers.

Our reporter | Wang Yandan    Editor | Peng Shuiping

Many investors have had this experience: On weekends and during holidays, they suddenly need money. They want to withdraw funds from the stock market, but the system is shut down, and they have to wait until after 8:30 a.m. on Monday; or at night they want to place orders for the night session, but the funds in their account are insufficient. They want to transfer from the bank, but they are told that the securities-and-bank transfer system is closed.

As a core supporting service for securities trading, the timeliness of securities-and-bank transfers directly affects investors’ capital-use efficiency. Our reporter from the Daily Economic News learned that, as the needs of investors in the capital market continue to upgrade, convenient and efficient capital services have become one of the key focuses of competition in the industry. Several brokerage firms have already explored launching 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services, breaking traditional trading time restrictions and enabling funds to be used “as soon as they’re transferred.” Some brokerages have even made this a key part of differentiated competition.

Multiple brokerages pilot 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services

According to our reporter from the Daily Economic News, the 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer service has already formed a certain scale of coverage. While different brokerages each emphasize different aspects in their business layout, it still remains at the pilot stage in parts of the industry.

Ping An Securities said that since the company launched this service in the industry in 2019, it has supported eight major mainstream banks, including Ping An Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial Bank, Ningbo Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Bank, and Bank of Communications. In the future, it will promote cooperation with more banks.

As for Zhongtai Securities, in terms of 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers, it has already launched with five banks, including Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, Industrial Bank, and Postal Savings Bank of China. However, it only supports ordinary brokerage third-party custody business.

Hualong Securities supports opening 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services with four banks: Bank of Communications, Industrial Bank, Ping An Bank, and Postal Savings Bank.

On February 26, Zhejiang Securities’ official WeChat account published a post saying it has reached cooperation with Bank of Communications, upgrading its 7×24-hour inbound funding service. Except for system maintenance time, customers can transfer funds from banks to securities accounts.

For Jinlong Securities, its ordinary account is contractually bound to Ping An Bank’s third-party custody. It can use 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers, but its credit account is not supported for now. Among transfers from securities to banks, some funds accounts have daily/single-transaction transfer limits of RMB 20 million (special agreements excluded). If the intended transfer amount exceeds the limit, it needs to be handled by contacting the dedicated advisor or the 95310 call-seat in advance. On trading days, during business hours, the transfer amount limit will be reviewed and adjusted.

It is also worth noting that although some brokerages have not yet launched such services, investors can still achieve a degree of 7×24-hour fund transfer by, for example, buying certain wealth management products. For instance, Huatai Securities has launched the “Lingqianbao+” service. During trading hours, as well as at night and on weekends, it supports instant withdrawals; the maximum instant-withdrawal limit per day is RMB 200,000.

From this, it can be seen that brokerages actively exploring 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services are mainly those with certain scale and distinctive characteristics, and the cooperation between brokerages and banks varies. Ping An Bank, Bank of Communications, Industrial Bank, Postal Savings Bank, and others have cooperation with multiple brokerages; some banks also cooperate only with specific brokerages.

It should be noted that while 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers provide “all-day” convenience, they are not unlimited services. Our reporter learned that some brokerages set aside a particular time window on trading days (usually from 16:00 to 17:00, or even shorter) as a day-end business system preparation period. During this period, transfers are paused. Special business time windows such as system upgrade and operations maintenance may also pause transfers.

At the same time, compared with traditional securities-and-bank transfers, the 7×24 service does not differ in terms of limits, timeliness, fees, and availability. Differences exist in withdrawable funds. For example, Zhongtai Securities applies: the range of funds that customers can withdraw during non-trading periods equals the sum of the withdrawable funds from the previous trading day and the net amount of fund inflows during non-trading periods. According to the securities trading settlement rules, the net receivable funds from trades on the current day are still available for withdrawal on the next trading day (funds from selling stocks on the current day and cash-type wealth management product redemption funds are still available for withdrawal on the next trading day).

Additionally, regarding interest calculation rules, Ping An Securities said that securities-and-bank transfers accrue interest by natural day. Interest starts accruing on the day the funds are transferred in, and stops accruing on the day the funds are transferred out, without restrictions based on trading days versus non-trading days. Zhongtai Securities, meanwhile, said that the interest calculation rules for securities accounts and the bank side are kept consistent: funds transferred in and out during non-trading periods accrue interest based on natural day 24:00 as the reference point.

Brokerage insiders: 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers do not require brokerages to advance funds

There is no question that capital safety is the core issue investors care most about, and it is also the bottom line for brokerages to carry out 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services. So, do 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers have risks? Does the brokerage need to advance funds?

In response, a relevant person from Ping An Securities said that its 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer service strictly follows the third-party custody system. It implements same-name account transfer rules and does not break through the existing regulatory framework. Customers’ funds are always kept by the bank as the third-party custodian. The only allowed transfer is between the customer’s own bank settlement account and their securities funds account, eliminating risks such as cross-name use and misappropriation from the source. There is also no practice of advancing funds. In the identity verification and transaction password validation steps, the company will strictly execute the funds account password and transaction password verification process to ensure the authenticity of the customer’s identity. Meanwhile, the company’s risk-control system performs intelligent monitoring across dimensions such as transfer amount, frequency, time period, and region, and issues warnings for scenarios that trigger suspicious transactions, including behaviors such as theft through transfer and money laundering.

Zhongtai Securities, on the other hand, said that it has completed the regulatory filing procedures to carry out 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services and strictly implements anti–money laundering requirements. The only relaxation for 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers is that the times for deposit and withdrawal are expanded to non-trading periods; other aspects such as identity verification, transaction encryption, and abnormal transaction monitoring remain consistent with current rules. Transfers from securities accounts to bank accounts also do not require the brokerage’s settlement reserve funds to be advanced in advance. If, during non-trading periods, situations such as one-sided entries, duplicate deductions, or transfer anomalies occur, the company has formulated contingency plans for scenarios such as one-sided entries and transfer anomalies. Based on the plan, abnormal situations will be handled appropriately to effectively protect customers’ rights and interests.

In addition, several brokerages also remind investors that when using 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfers, they should operate through the brokerage’s official app or website, and be alert to fake platforms and phishing links. They should properly keep information such as account passwords and verification codes and not disclose them to others. If they encounter abnormal funds, they should promptly report it through official customer service channels to effectively safeguard their own funds’ safety.

Launching 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services is one of the ways brokerages explore to attract high-quality customers and retain high-quality customers in the context of homogeneous competition in the capital market.

A brokerage insider told our reporter that its brokerage’s operations center is mainly responsible for negotiating with banks on 7×24-hour securities-and-bank transfer services. Through innovation in securities-and-bank services, this service builds differentiated competitive advantages and provides an effective lever for business expansion.

According to the data on new accounts for February disclosed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on March 3, the number of new A-share accounts in that month was 2.523 million, down 11% year over year, and down 49% quarter over quarter from January of this year’s 4.9158 million. Meanwhile, CICC Data’s latest monthly data on margin financing and securities lending show that in February, the number of new accounts for margin financing and securities lending reached 117,000, up 20% year over year, and down 38.6% quarter over quarter. In terms of new user types, individual investors’ enthusiasm was especially high. In February, the number of new individual investor accounts was 2.5159 million, while new accounts for institutional investors were only 71,000.

Cover image source: AIGC