China's four biggest banks have lost market share among more affluent customers who are more willing to shop around for the best service, a study by consulting company McKinsey & Co shows.

The big-four's combined market share serving local individuals who earn at least US$50,000 a year fell to 80 percent this year from 92 percent in 2001. The report didn't break out separate figures for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank Corp.

Customers have been shifting to foreign and smaller rivals after the country opened its banking industry in December. Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Inc and Standard Chartered Plc are expanding in China, where rapid growth spurred a 7.8 percent increase in US dollar millionaires last year, according to Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co.

"Customers are more selective and more willing to shop around," Kenny Lam, an associate McKinsey partner based in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News yesterday. "Everything is now up for grabs."

China's largest four banks still have advantages, he said, such as foreign shareholders and large branch networks. ICBC, the nation's biggest bank, operates more than 21,000 outlets in China compared with 40 for HSBC, the foreign bank with the biggest branch network in the country.

More than 1.5 million Chinese are affluent, and the group is growing at more than 15 percent a year, according to the report. For the study, the New York-based consulting firm interviewed 4,178 Chinese, 303 of whom were affluent, defined as earning more than US$50,000 a year.

Chinese mainland investors are more willing than their peers in Hong Kong to take on investment risk and to pay for financial services, McKinsey found.

Forty-one percent of affluent Chinese on the mainland said they were willing to accept moderate or high investment risk for better returns, compared with 39 percent in Hong Kong. Fifty-three percent of the mainlanders said they would pay for financial services, compared with 35 percent in Hong Kong.