'Shadow banking' expands as Hong Kong brokers lend to Chinese businessmen

Many Hong Kong brokerages have a new and profitable business, despite the economic downturn: lending money to mainland entrepreneurs at high interest rate, sometimes more than 30 per cent.

Such private financing activities are a new and fast-growing business for many mid-sized and large local brokerages in the city.

Mainland entrepreneurs have increasingly turned to Hong Kong for this kind of high-interest private financing in the past year as Beijing has tightened the availability of banking credit on the mainland.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1236391/shadow-banking-expands-hong-kong-brokers-lend-chinese