Does Hong Kong's loan shark law proposal lack bite needed to tame debt collectors?
Advertisement
The legislators and specialists criticised the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau's plan to set a cap on borrowing activity for low-income earners and impose stricter rules for loan 'referees', saying it failed to tackle the shadowy network of intermediaries who enabled predatory lending.
The bureau is seeking public feedback between June and August over proposals to tie unsecured personal loans to a borrower's income, either through an aggregate loan cap or a debt servicing ratio. It has also floated the idea of banning the use of referees altogether to stop the
widespread harassment of third parties.
'Harassment is against the law, but harassment happens every day,' lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said. 'People wonder if there is lawlessness in Hong Kong.'
At a Legislative Council meeting on Monday, the government said that the Companies Registry had received 725 complaints about money lenders in the past five years. Referrals to police were made in 509 of the cases, which authorities said showed the need for tougher regulation.
Advertisement
Last year, the registry received 214 complaints, conducted 561 inspections and issued 22 warning letters. These included 58 complaints involving domestic helpers, of which 18 directly concerned moneylenders harassing loan referees.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
27 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Beijing denies German accusation that PLA laser-targeted aircraft patrolling Red Sea
Beijing has denied Germany's allegation that a Chinese warship had targeted a German aircraft in the Red Sea with a laser. The German foreign ministry said on Tuesday the aircraft was taking part in the European Union's Aspides mission to protect marine traffic in the waterway, while the People's Liberation Army naval vessel laser-targeted it 'without reason or prior contact'. The Chinese ambassador to Berlin was summoned for the incident the ministry described as 'endangering German personnel and disrupting the operation' and 'entirely unacceptable'. In response, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the accusation 'does not match the facts that China has gathered'. 'It is important to increase communication in a timely way and be fact-based to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation,' spokesperson Mao Ning said. Mao did not elaborate on China's version of the incident but defended the PLA navy's presence in the region.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Republicans urge US schools to drop ‘nefarious' Chinese scholarship programme
House Republicans have urged seven US universities to cut ties with a Chinese scholarship programme that lawmakers call a 'nefarious mechanism' to steal technology for the Chinese government. Advertisement In letters to Dartmouth College, the University of Notre Dame and five other universities, leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party raised concerns about the schools' partnerships with the China Scholarship Council, a study abroad programme funded by China. The programme sponsors hundreds of Chinese graduate students every year at US universities. After graduating, they are required to return to China for two years. In the letters sent on Tuesday, Republicans described it as a threat to national security. 'CSC purports to be a joint scholarship programme between US and Chinese institutions; however, in reality it is a CCP-managed technology transfer effort that exploits US institutions and directly supports China's military and scientific growth,' wrote Republican congressman John Moolenaar, chair of the committee. Letters were also sent to Temple University, the University of Tennessee and the University of California campuses in Davis, Irvine and Riverside. The committee said it's opening a review into the programme's 'infiltration' of US universities and demanded records related to the programme from all seven institutions. Advertisement The universities' partnerships with the council bring up to 15 graduate students a year to Dartmouth, along with up to 60 at Temple and 40 at Notre Dame, according to the letters. Some schools split the cost, including Dartmouth, which covers 50 per cent of tuition and provides a stipend to doctoral students. Among other records, lawmakers are demanding documents showing whether scholarship recipients worked on research funded by the US government.
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Will Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill' offer opportunities for China?
US President Donald Trump's latest tax and spending act might 'cause some trouble' for China, according to analysts. Advertisement However, they also said Beijing may be able to benefit in certain areas if the act – known officially as the One Big Beautiful Bill – generates further political instability and damages domestic industries such as the US clean energy sector. The act aims to make permanent tax cuts, lock in Trump's priorities on border and defence financing, increase Washington's debt limit by US$5 trillion, slash healthcare funding and jeopardise dozens of planned clean energy projects with ties to China. It has sparked widespread concern across the world over an anticipated surge in US federal deficit – estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to reach at least US$3 trillion over the next decade – and its capacity to reshape global capital flows by sharply reducing incentives for US multinationals to keep profits and investments overseas. The act 'is not aimed at China' but will indirectly affect it and other countries, according to Zhu Junwei, director of Horizon Insights Centre, a Chinese think tank. Advertisement 'Nowadays, when Americans oppose certain domestic policies, they often invoke China – claiming that a certain measure would benefit Beijing and should therefore be rejected. Whether there are exaggerations in such claims requires closer analysis,' she said.
