Banks in Shanghai have largely cut the time customers spent queuing to be served - an often-heard complaint - during the World Expo because of a campaign to revamp financial services.

The average queuing time at bank counters has been cut to 15 minutes from a ridiculously long average of 52 minutes, said the Shanghai headquarters of the People's Bank of China as it revealed instances of good practices introduced during the 184-day Expo in Shanghai that ended in October.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's biggest bank by market value, cut its average waiting time to 11 minutes in the city, the central bank said.

Customers have complained about the long time they have to queue to conduct banking services in China. To minimize the problem, banks strongly promoted e-banking services to take over some services that used to be done at the counter. They also hired more staff.

The innovation, new concepts and practices should be fully taken advantage of post-Expo to boost the development of the city's financial industry, said Tu Guangshao, vice mayor of Shanghai.

(Shanghai Daily November 13, 2010)