Walking down the streets of Shanghai, you’ll see many signs of home. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC and yes, even Bank of America. But if you are thinking this might have any connection beyond the name to the Bank of America you know from back home, think again. It’s an entirely separate entity ruled by very, very different guidelines. Banking laws differ from one state to another within the United States, so you can imagine how different they must be in another country.

If you doubt this, try going into a Bank of America branch in Oregon to draw or deposit your account opened in the state of California. It doesn’t work, does it? No, the two states are on different federal charters: one is a Federal Savings Bank (FSB) and the other is a Bank (BA). Now try doing this same transaction outside the country, and you’ll see how strange things can really get.

Better still, walk in to one of those familiar banks in Shanghai and try to open an account. You know how it works back home; you need proper identification, a pulse and maybe $100 for your minimum balance. Not so in China, where you’ll need anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000, and maybe as much as $10,000 to open an account. Even though that’s as much as eight years of income to a Chinese national, it’s their minimum opening balance.

Oh, and don’t think you can easily transfer money in and out of the country. The Chinese banking system is wrought with guidelines, rules and regulations, most of which are designed to prevent the sorts of fraud so prevalent in the United States. American banks lose literally billions of dollars each year in order to insure that the transactions you and I so freely enjoy go off unencumbered, but there’s a hidden cost that is absent in China.

If you’re looking to live, work, do business or launch a small venture in China, there’s only one bank I recommend as strongly as Bank of America, and that is Bank of China, if you can get an account there. Securing an account with one of these two banks may insure a long, trouble-free legacy of banking for you as long as you are in China. But if you are a tourist briefly vacationing in China, don’t waste your time with Bank of America.

If you need to have funds wired in, you’ll be better off receiving them at Bank of China or the Agricultural Bank of China. If you just need to pull a couple hundred bucks out of your account with your debit card, use Bank of America, Bank of China, or any other ATM machine with the Visa logo and you’ll do just fine.