By Yan Shuang

Banks have started to get tough with non-customers who hang around in branches, taking advantage of free heating or air conditioning, alleged a local newspaper.

Beijing police responded yesterday, saying they had asked banks to improve safety during the holidays, by keeping an eye on those who do not have official bank business.

Two visitors to a branch of Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) in Dongcheng district were refused by security guards when trying to enter to warm up, the Legal Mirror reported Tuesday. One of the visitors, surnamed Lu, was told by the guards that police ordered them to only allow genuine customers in, the report said.

"We're not shutting visitors out," said an anonymous office director with SDB's Beijing branch. But those just lounging around will be warned if they stay too long, as banks would watch out for factors that might infringe clients' financial property safety, she said.

Beijing police issued a notice before the holidays, informing all banks in Beijing to improve safety awareness, said Li Ruihua, media officer with the Municipal Public Security Bureau's (PSB) civil security section.

"People walking and looking about might be told to leave, as many residents withdraw large amounts of money during the holidays, and we have to make sure there's no scoping out for a robbery," Li said.

The PSB assigns officers for bank safety inspections regularly, she said, especially since a robbery outside a bank in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on January 6, in which a man was shot dead and robbed of 200,000 yuan ($31,701).

A Sina Weibo poll yesterday revealed 75 percent of residents agreed that barring non-bank customers is good for safety.