It’s hardly the typical pawn broker.

Instead of wedding rings, it’s looking for private jets; it would rather accept a rare work of art than a much-loved guitar; and a Rolex is preferable to a clapped out hi-fi.

Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Borro.com – the world’s first online pawnbroker, which caters for the likes of down-on-their-luck hedge-fund managers, bankers and even premiership footballers who have run into a spot of cash-flow bother.

Among Borro’s main clientele are wealthy British-based EU nationals who have fallen on hard times due to economic instability in their home countries, and are now turning to high-end money-lenders trading in fine art, heirlooms and luxury cars to raise loans of up to £200,000.

Chief executive Paul Aitken, pictured, says a 1,700% increase in Borro.com’s loan book has been helped by rich ­Spanish and Greek nationals who cannot get capital in their native countries due to their near-economic collapse.

“We’ve issued loans against £2 million worth of art belonging to Europeans in the last two months,” Aitken says. “These include 20th-century art, early European sculpture and Old Master pictures.”

Work by the renowned British urban artist Banksy is proving one of the most common securities supplied by the newly hard-up rich – but the company has also taken possession of a series of Degas sketches and sculpture by Henry Moore.

Aitken says that anonymity and discretion, coupled with a panel of experts formerly at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, makes the online pawnbroker an attractive option for those who would not normally rely on a money-lending service.

Online auction culture has also helped, said Aitken, who describes himself as an entrepreneur.

He set up Borro.com in 2008.

Aitken says 90% of debtors repay their loans on time, and repeat custom counts for much of the business’s success. The company says it can pay more than twice that offered on the high street, with an average loan at £1,000. But recent handouts have reached up to £200,000.

“I don’t wake up in the morning and pat myself on the back for being a pawnbroker,” says Aitken. “But I do love my work.”