A colleague who was happy to leave Hong Kong for her home in Australia told me that the one thing she would miss about Hong Kong is its efficient banking. I have to agree with her that Hong Kong does have excellent banking services, but I prefer the less crowded banks of California. Counter in California might be a bit slower but there’s much less people and customer service is excellent in most case. Bankers in America have that human touch. They would do the routine “How are you today, sir?” and start some small talk while you are waiting for him to look up something or print something out. They kind of become your friend for than 10 minutes. And as they look up your information, they would often see of ways they could provide you with more and better service for free like upgrading your credit card, better interest rate on another type of account you qualify for and etc… And they are never pushy. Better yet, they provide all the information in a clear manner. When you ask about CD, interest rate and etc, they don’t just tell you, they would give you a chart or table and highlight it for you. They make sure that you are not confused.