Brokerage Celestial Asia Securities Holdings (CASH) has escalated the price war in the Mass Transit Railway Corp share offering by lining up Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Asia to provide an overdraft facility to subscribers.
Under the arrangement, anyone who deposits cash equivalent to 10 per cent of the subscription into an ICBC Asia account can borrow a maximum of HK$500,000.
The facility is subject to instant approval and requires no proof of income.
The interest rate is the local prime rate - 9.5 per cent per year - higher than some offers of rival banks.
Dah Sing Bank, for example, offers an interest rate as low as 2.3 per cent in its MTRC share subscription overdraft package.
However, due to a waiver on the handling fee, the CASH facility is considered among the cheapest for those borrowing smaller amounts, according to CASH executive director Eugene Law.