IN A QUIET CORNER of Mirador Mansions, a middle-aged Pakistani sits at a desk waiting for business amid the maze of curry houses, shops and seedy guesthouses which make up this small slice of South Asia transplanted into Tsim Sha Tsui. No signs advertise his dealings, only word of mouth.
A whisper from a young man packing boxes nearby directs a potential customer to the businessman who, for the right price, will help visitors and Hong Kong residents remit money to Pakistan via an underground banking system.
He is a vital cog in the flow of funds around the world, but which centre on the subcontinent, using a network known as hawala, or hundi.
It is an ancient network based on trust and the ethnic background of those wanting to make foreign-exchange transactions which are essentially paperless and cheap - key factors not only for expatriate workers, but also money launderers and terrorists.
Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, is reported to have limited his al-Qaeda terror network's use of banks and now increasingly relies on the underground banking system to move funds across borders.
The hawala method of conducting foreign-exchange transactions is now coming under intense scrutiny as a result of bin Laden's suspected use of the system. It had already been under international pressure as a result of anti-money laundering efforts. Laws targeting the unregulated practice were introduced in Hong Kong last year.