Shanghai Daily reports:

IN an underground mall just a stone's throw from the Chinese mainland's border with Macau, a row of 30 small shops with identical gold plaques do a brisk, though shadowy trade with mainland visitors, many of them bound for the gambling hub.

"Good rates. Better than the banks," shout salespeople jostling to usher clients into shops where thick wads of notes change hands. Licensed as liquor and dry goods stores with stacked shelves of rice wine and cigarettes, many conduct their real business in back rooms - as underground bankers and remittance agents.

"It's very simple," said one agent surnamed Choi. "You give me renminbi here. Then we deliver Hong Kong dollars to you in Macau. We can move tens of millions each day," he said.

As China's economy and financial markets mature and gain in sophistication, so too does a vast underground banking industry offering swift, cheap and low risk cross-border fund transfers. Much of that activity is conducted openly on the streets of south China's Guangdong Province, where businesses and individuals depend on underground networks to get around strict currency controls - both for legitimate commercial purposes and to safeguard assets beyond the reach of authorities.
 
Beijing is finding it increasingly difficult to stem the tide of speculative and illegal cash. In the decade since China began cracking down on money laundering, the government has amended criminal laws and strengthened commercial banking rules, but loosening restrictions on capital transfers has made it easier for hot money to be channeled across the border.

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/Business/2013/05/22/Underground%2Bbanking%2Bindustry%2Bflourishing/