He was even harangued at a concert that night by a solicitor asking if he needed a starter loan to finance investments in the resurgent stock market.

Why the sudden deluge of calls and where is this flood of easy money coming from?

A banker told Lai See that the low interest rate environment and the deposit protection scheme are to blame.

Since traditional term deposit accounts currently pay next to nothing in interest, people have been looking elsewhere to stash their cash. One popular destination is financing companies, which pay better interest rates and guarantee up to HK$100,000 in deposits.

Armed with new deposits, many of these lenders have redoubled efforts to spin some of it back into loans with a higher interest rate than the one they hand out for deposits.

The business model rings with profit potential. But unfortunately, so do our phones.

Playing safe with baby steps

Executives have pleaded with shareholders to be understanding during the current financial crisis and not lose focus of their company's long-term prospects.

That message is a little easier to swallow from a company like Lerado Group, which yesterday reported a 9.6 per cent jump in first-half profit to HK$34.9 million and raised its interim dividend to 2 HK cents.

The manufacturer of baby care products pledged to pursue opportunities for expansion but also reminded investors about the difficult operating environment: 'Given the swiftly changing market environment, [we] will adopt a cautious approach to opening retail stores at a suitable pace.'

Investors should have no problem digesting that, especially given that Lerado's share price has already rocketed up 77.8 per cent so far this year.

Landmark move for Quam

Financial services company Quam Ltd is set to relocate its head office to Gloucester Tower in the Landmark from Fung House on Connaught Road.

Quam has had an office in the Landmark for several years, but with the move it will be taking an additional office on a separate floor.

This could be a sign that Quam's business is improving, or it may be just a coincidence. But either way the firm's employees seem to win out with a swanky new office location.

Job news could be worse

Job markets in global financial hubs have been savaged by the economic downturn as the demand for business-related services continues to lag behind pre-crisis levels.

Hong Kong chimed in on Thursday with its latest dose of dour news. While the city's unemployment rate held firm last month at 5.4 per cent, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung warned that we were not out of the woods yet and the jobless level might remain high.

But things could be worse. Across the Pacific this week, the situation seemed gloomier than ever.

Reports showed that New York City's jobless rate had surged last month to a 16-year high of 10.3 per cent.

The news came just two weeks after the United States announced that its national unemployment rate had hit a 26-year high that month.

At least Hongkongers should sleep a little easier, knowing that the jobless rate here is only the highest in four years.

In the frame

Finally, spare a thought for Du Jun (below), the ex-Morgan Stanley banker who was yesterday sentenced to seven years in prison in Hong Kong's biggest insider trading case.

The former managing director at the investment bank was arrested when he returned to Hong Kong from the mainland to collect a framed picture. If the authorities have a heart, they should let him keep the picture on the wall of his cell.