I'm not sure, if CMB is any better than other Chinese banks for business venue.

However, Gold account is good for regular laowai, because of full access to CMB account abroad (ATM Visa/Mc logo), and their no fee 'spot currency exchange rate'.

The first thing is that business banking in Mainland China is nothing like personal banking. You cannot, for instance, get debit cards or any kind of plastic with a business account. Neither do you have full freedom to move the money about. Business accounts are administered by the People's Bank of China and the government. Stringent rules are applied to the use of the funds so forget any thoughts of getting a Gold Account or the like.

The way that it is done is when you register the business, you will have to nominate a bank. The government will not permit you full freedom to choose. It is highly unlikely that they will agree to one of the modern, privatized banks. Neither will they agree to international banking groups. They may at a push agree to CMB or Huaxia (or other long established Mainland banks outside the big 4). The government that I registered with tried to coerce me into opening the business account with ICBC (probably because there was an agreed "kick back" incentive from the ICBC to the local government).

There is little to gain between any of them unless you intend getting business finance later. I am told that ICBC is the most business friendly though BOC have got some attractive policies as well. If all you intend to do is pay money in and take it out, there really is no advantage that can be gained by choosing one bank over another.

When your company is registered, you will be issued with three chops (company stamps). Two are round and there is a small square one. You will have to take the "cai wu" (Financial affairs) and "Fa Ding Dai Biao Ren" (Company Legal Representative) chops to the nominated bank along with the business license and some other tax related documentation.

The bank will open two accounts for you. One is for the company registered capital and the other is the RMB current account. You are limited to these two accounts and you will receive nothing more than two pieces of card with the account details on and a small password generator to withdraw funds later. There is no plastic and no cheque book.

The registered capital account in the case of WOFE is for foreign currency of a type stipulated by the government and the only way to pay funds into this account id directly from an account in your precise passport name from a source outside China (usually your own country and own country's currency). This money cannot be touched until the accountant has sent a report to the government and the PBOC have agreed to release the funds. The money is then converted to RMB and transferred to your RMB Current Account for use.

The second account is the RMB Account which is used for general business banking. RMB or any transferable international currency can be paid into this account but it is controlled by the government who will check the source. Foreign currency is immediately converted into RMB. If you want to keep foreign currency in a bank, you should either use personal banking or agree that a business currency account is needed and get the permission of the PBOC to hold international currency for business purposes.

When withdrawing capital from a business account, you will have to buy business cheques from the bank. There is no signatory. The small square "Legal Representative" stamp is used instead of a signature. You must also use the password generator to obtain a unique withdrawal code every time money is taken out.

Each transaction is reported to the PBOC and the large company chop is used to sign off a statement produced by the bank monthly which is kept by your accountant and presented to the government when the annual inspection report is carried out.

The government will take any tax or insurance payment from the account automatically. You are not permitted to make any other direct debit payment.