What Every Bank Should Know About Corporate Seals and Their Management

High‑end Business Battle: Seizing a Seal and Wearing It on a Belt

In April 2020, Li Guoqing led a group of four men into Dangdang's Beijing headquarters, forcibly taking the company's administrative and financial seals under the pretext of being a shareholder. Although Dangdang announced the seals were reported lost and cancelled, reports suggest the loss report was ineffective, and Li later displayed the seized seal on his belt during a live broadcast.

From a banking perspective, if the corporate seal was not properly reported lost, documents bearing the seized seal may still be considered valid. This raises questions about the authenticity of corporate seals, their various types, and how banks can differentiate genuine from forged stamps.

Seal Types and Designs

Chinese regulations, such as the State Council's 1999 decree and the "Regulations on Seal Management of the People's Republic of China," define seals as either public (company) seals or personal name seals with legal effect.

Public seals are used by state organs, enterprises, social groups, and other registered entities. They include administrative, financial, legal person, contract‑specific, invoice‑specific, and other departmental seals.

Personal name seals belong to legal representatives or financial officers of an organization.

According to the regulations, a public seal must be circular, feature a five‑pointed star at the center, and display the unit name around the star. Only one official public seal is permitted per entity, with a diameter not exceeding 4.5 cm and printed in Song typeface. Governmental seals differ: ministries use the national emblem instead of a star, and seal sizes vary by administrative level (e.g., State Council 6 cm, ministries 5 cm, provincial governments 4.5 cm, counties 4.2 cm).

Financial seals are used for payment and settlement activities; their size and shape are determined by local tax authorities and must be in Song or Clerical script.

Company chairman (legal person) personal seal is applied to contracts, financial statements, and personnel documents requiring a private signature.

Contract‑specific seals may be circular or elliptical, bearing the company name, bank account details, and a serial number if multiple copies exist.

Invoice seals are elliptical with the tax identification number at the center.

Department‑specific seals are intended solely for internal use and must not be used externally.

Reserved Bank Imprints

In banking, the term "customer imprint" refers to the seal a corporate client registers with the bank when opening an account. The client does not leave the physical seal at the bank; instead, the seal imprint is recorded on a dedicated imprint card. During transactions, the bank compares the imprint on client documents with the registered imprint.

Typically, the registered imprints include the corporate public seal, financial seal, and the legal representative's personal seal.

Modern imprint management has become electronic, with specialized systems supporting imprint database creation, modification, and verification. Traditional manual methods, such as "fold‑corner verification," involve physically folding the imprint to compare it with the registered version, but these are less reliable than electronic verification.