Financial
Yes,
Secretary :
sir, that is one of mine,
undoubtedly! No, Sir, at the moment I think the interest rates
that are established in the Ordinance are basically in order.
They do cause some problems in that when interest rates are
high in Hong Kong, we find that overnight interest rates
charged in the financial services sector can sometimes go
beyond the rates of interest provided for in the Money Lenders
Ordinance. We do examine the level of interest rates from time
to time but at the moment I think they don't require amendment
but we may be coming back on this point.
Mr. LEE Yu-tai : sir, I refer to the first paragraph of the
answer and would like to ask if the substantial drop in the
number of licensed money lenders would lead to a corresponding
rise in demand for borrowings from loan sharks?
Financial Secretary : I think not, Sir. As I said in my main
answer, we believe that the provisions of the Ordinance have
been largely successful in combating most of the activities of
loan sharks. As the Secretary for Security has indicated, the
police are onto this problem. The real solution, again as the
Secretary for Security has said, is for people to be very
careful and if they feel they must borrow money, borrow either
banks or reputable
from registered money
outlets.
lenders or from
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