The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that it has long been suspected that Canadian banks were playing a less-than-honourable role in the foreign-investment rush taking place in the country's real estate market. The Globe's Gary Mason writes that the Big Five banks have been doing this by giving foreign clients preferential treatment when it comes to qualifying for loans. Banks use a different set of loan requirements for foreigners than they do for those who work and pay taxes in this country. So, if you are from China, for instance, and have no credit history in Canada but are looking to buy a place in Vancouver, you can likely borrow large sums of money from a Canadian bank without having to verify your income. Loans officers at Bank of Nova Scotia, for instance, have been told that they do not need to verify the incomes of new immigrants if they have a loan down payment of 35 per cent. For foreigners, the no-verification threshold jumps to 50 per cent. If foreign clients do not have to document and prove the source of their income, it opens the door to those looking for a haven for ill-gotten gains: money-laundering. Real estate is the perfect vehicle in which to cleanse illicit funds.