A BANK in Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong refused to open an account for a would-be customer because they said his name, Li Jun, was too common. The bank said their computer system could only deal with 300 people with the same names, and they already had 300 account holders with the name Li Jun, the Danwei website reported.
This is a relatively common problem in China, because nearly 90 per cent of the population shares the same 129 family names.
The 301st Mr Li is apparently considering suing the bank. While the article did not reveal the name of the bank, it did say that none of the other banks in the city have such limits on accounts for people with identical names. The manager of the bank said he did not understand either, and speculated that the policy “may be out of consideration for customer security.”
A lawyer said that while there was no law stopping a bank from allowing customers to bank with them, they provided a service like a taxi and should be required to serve customers unless they have a valid reason.