Pensioner smashes up bank after she was told cash deposited decades ago only worth

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Chinese pensioner smashes up bank after she was told cash deposited decades ago only worth 20 yuan with interest

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 27 August, 2015, 11:53am
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 August, 2015, 11:53am

Minnie Chan
[email protected]

The woman is questioned after venting her frustration at the bank in Kunming. Photo: SCMP Pictures

An elderly woman smashed the glass entrance at a bank in southwestern China after she was told that 50,000 yuan she deposited decades ago was today only worth 20 yuan (HK$25) – with interest.

The 80-year-old deposited the money 62 years ago at the People’s Bank of China and tried to reclaim the cash at a branch office in Kunming, the Beijing Times reported.

The money was issued at a time of hyperinflation in China and the country’s currency was later revalued by the People's Bank of China in 1955, making a 10 yuan note the largest in circulation, according to the report.

It meant that 50,000 yuan was worth only 5 yuan after conversion and with interest over the decades the value of the woman’s cash had increased to just 20 yuan.

Record of the woman's 50,000 yuan deposit. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The central bank's branch office in Kunming in Yunnan province accepted the certificate of her deposit, issued when the bank was a commercial lender, and offered to give the woman 50 yuan instead, but she became angry and smashed the entrance to the building, the article said.

Police were called, but decided not to formally arrest her because of her age.

The woman, whose full name was not given, has been trying to cash her deposit at various bank branches for about 10 years and finally lost her temper with staff, the report said.