A Beijing bank manager, who refused to be identified, told China Daily that the number of clients mortgaging their properties for large cash loans has increased dramatically in recent months. "In our contracts, we ask them not to use the money for stock speculation, but in practice, it is very difficult to control," the manager said. "They don't consider that if they lose in the stock market, they may lose their properties."

Shi said that one of his clients asked him the second day after he opened an account: "How could my stock values decline?"

"The words are unimaginable for a market subject to regular fluctuations," Shi said. "For investors, the biggest risk is their lack of an awareness of risk."

(China Daily 02/05/2007 page8)

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