Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung has called on Hong Kong bankers to extend loan payment relief to cash-strapped homeowners caught in a negative-equity trap.
In turn, bankers have urged the Government to get its housing policy in order.
The appeals were exchanged during an unscheduled hour-long meeting called yesterday by Mr Leung ahead of tomorrow's policy address by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa - widely expected to address the growing problem of negative equity in the property market.
'I think the bankers are sympathetic,' Mr Leung said after yesterday's meeting. 'We all agreed that the Government as well as the banking sector have a role to play in helping our people economically.'
He said bank executives he met with - representing HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, the Bank of China, and the Bank of East Asia - were willing to help.
'They will arrange for a reduction in rates if the circumstances allow, as well as in lengthening repayment periods and that kind of thing,' Mr Leung said.
However, analysts said this added nothing to a similar message carried to the Legislative Council by Bank of East Asia chairman David Li Kwok-po as far back as February, when the issue of negative equity was first raised as a concern.
