Customers no longer bank on safe boxes

The shortage of safety deposit boxes has become so acute that some banks have stopped taking new customers or put them on a waiting list that can last for years.

Safety deposit boxes in prime locations such as Central and Tsim Sha Tsui have been full for years, especially bigger ones.

One bank said it charged low rental for its safety deposit boxes because it considered them a "complementary service".

Due to the space safety deposit boxes take up, it would be commercially unwise for banks to provide the service, especially when rents are expensive in key commercial districts, bankers said.

"We no longer accept applications for the biggest boxes because the queue was too long," a staff member at China Citic Bank's Central branch said.

More than 100 people are on the waiting list.

"My understanding is that some banks have stopped providing safety deposit boxes at their Central branches, so quite a lot of the original customers there have flocked to us."