Still, there are juicy pickings to be had from loan-sharking to destitute gamblers.

ECONOMIST: Macau

More than 30 people have been killed so far this year, as rival triads fight for control of lucrative gambling, loan-sharking and prostitution businesses.

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In Europe, for-profit medicine is barely more respectable than loan-sharking.

ECONOMIST: Medicine for export | The

Is that worse than the legal loan sharking, the predatory expansion of gambling and any number of other ill-advised ventures people pursue voluntarily?

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Lest it be accused of loan sharking, Sanwa Bank points out that the venture is aimed at untapped middle-income, middle-risk consumers (apparently it is already getting calls from school teachers and tax inspectors) who cannot borrow money at banks but flinch at traditional consumer-finance rates.

ECONOMIST: Japanese consumer finance