A Chinese bank employee is being hailed as a hero after risking his life to save a female customer from a robber who put a knife to her neck.

The hostage incident took place at an Agricultural Bank of China in Nanning, Guangxi Province, on Friday, Shanghaiist reported.

As seen in surveillance footage, the robber walked up behind a sitting female customer and put a knife to her neck.

The startled customer, who had a stack of cash in hand, placed her bank notes to the side of the table in an apparent act of surrender. The robber then took the stack of cash.

Moments later, a bank employee approached the robber and offered himself in place of the terrorized customer. The robber appeared to have agreed and soon placed the knife on his neck.

The employee eventually seized an opportunity to grab the robbers arm holding the knife as a police officer armed with a baton and shield came up from behind to grab the robbers neck and take him down.

The robber was pinned to the floor and will not likely being robbing banks any time soon.

Watch the tense footage below: