A proposal to tighten regulations covering Hong Kong’s notorious loan sharks is too narrowly focused and will not tackle the root of the problem of unruly debt collectors, according to lawmakers and legal experts.
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.
