According to a quarterly survey by the People's Bank of China Shanghai Branch, savings deposits kept up a strong momentum in Shanghai in the July-September period, due to persistent lackluster performance of the domestic equity market.

About 22.8 percent of the respondents said that they intended to save more money, 10.8 percentage points higher than the previous quarter, the highest growth rate in two years.

Retirement support and education were given as the reasons for saving by 17.4 percent and 14.4 percent respectively of the respondents. Most were low-income earners or residents who expected less family income in the future, implying that uncertainties about future income help increase savings.

According to the survey, other factors behind the growing intention to save included improvements in services and the growthin intermediary businesses of banks.

Savings accounts in Shanghai have developed into de facto payment and investment management vehicles, as local banks offer services that are hooked up to fund management, treasury bond trading, insurance and securities transactions.

This helped depositors choose short-term services.

The sample survey showed that 66.6 percent of Shanghai residents chose savings accounts with a maturity of no longer thanone year, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Despite the growing intention to save, Shanghai residents are more willing to spend immediately, according to the survey.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2002)