About 49 percent of the respondents in a recent poll among 2,000 urban residents across the country agreed with the liberalization of deposit interest rates, while 36 percent opposed it.

People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said last month that control of deposit interest rates will be scrapped in one to two years, the last remaining step in the country's interest-rate liberalization.

About 52 percent surveyed by Guangzhou Public Opinion Research Center in March said they expected deposit interest rates to go up after the liberalization, while 23 percent expected decreases or no change.

About 71 percent of those polled said they believed that people will deposit their money in small and medium-sized banks if those banks offer higher-deposit interest rates, while 29 percent disagreed or said it was hard to say.

Among the 29 percent who would not deposit money at smaller banks despite a higher interest rate, 81 percent said it is because big banks are safer. Additionally, 46 percent of them cited a larger number of outlets owned by big banks, 36 percent said they were paying power and water bills at big banks, and 30 percent said it is bothersome to change banks.

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