I've only had one problem in all the years I've been using Bank of China. I inadvertently used an older account number. If you lose an ATM card, they freeze and then cancel the account and transfer the balance to a new account with a new card and new number,which is fair enough.

What I have noticed is that they prefer the name exactly as it printed on your passport. If you use 'Alex' rather than 'Alexander' or an initial for your middle name and this is on your passport I don't see a problem. There is some confusion in all BOC branches about signatures ,as the Chinese don't have this option so want a thumb-print for official stuff from Chinese patrons. I write my signature and name exactly as they appear on my passport and they are happy.

BTW, I abbreviate my first name to Alec, not Alex! But I didn't use Alec. The transfer was an incoming one. The incompetent combo of SPPA and Shitibank tampered with the precise details I had given them, those corresponding with my bank account details that I had originally provided to SPPA. Most of your reply is lame, unhelpful and irrelevant. Time for the nitty gritty. I've just had a brainwave: see below:

I've a bone to pick with the proven imo to be anti-foreigner BOC here. That branch, which is the head Inner Mongolia branch treats me as a second-class customer compared to my Chinese wife as regards monetary transfers from abroad. My wife holds an account with the BOC here too, different in that her name is in Chinese as opposed to English, and obviously her bank account number is different from mine.

How can it be that GBP transfers from an offshore account whose bank is using her name in English are accepted into her account by said branch, while my annual pension is immediately rejected and sent back to Citibank when, just like her. my names don't match?

My next move is to visit the branch once again to make trouble! The managers there are absolute ____holes!

Can anyone recommend anything else I can do to make trouble?