CYBER CAFE FINANCING: THE NEXT STEP?

It was reported in Philippines' IT Mattersthat a US firm is cashing in on the country's bludgeoning online gaming market.

The Philly-based private equity firm will open a lending facility for Philippine internet cafés this year, to give loans to cafés that run Level Up! games Oz World and Ragnarok Online.

Level Up! is a games publisher in the Philippines.

The rationale is that cafes will need better hardware with more resource-intensive games in the pipeline.

Will Malaysian finance institutions follow suit and put our independent cafe operators further into debt?