On a fee reduction spree sparked by domestic shareholding commercial banks, Chinese banks are offering discounts for online banking services to consolidate their market presence, reported Thursday's China Daily.

The latest bank to join the fray is Bank of Communications, the country's fifth biggest lender. It plans to trim charges for online fund transfer from 0.7 percent of the total transfer to 0.2 percent.

State-owned banks, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, have also announced small discounts for online transfer fees.

Industry insiders said the price reduction would help banks attract new customers and grab a bigger share in the market, as Internet banking could be a key channel for developing retail banking businesses in the future.

The average cost for the bank to settle a business at branches is about one yuan, which is 10 times higher than that of an online transfer, said analysts.

The development of Internet banking could help ease the workload at retail branches and efficiently improve customer experience, they said.

According to a research report made by iResearch Consultancy, the country's online transaction volume grew 30.6 percent to 320.9 trillion yuan in 2008.

Source:Xinhua