HSBC Maintains Hong Kong Dollar Prime Lending Rate At 5.25%
Wednesday September 17th, 2008 / 8h26
HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- HSBC Holdings PLC's (HBC) Asian unit Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. said Wednesday it is keepingits best lending rate unchanged at 5.25%. The decision came after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its target for the federal funds rate unchanged at 2% late Tuesday. Early Wednesday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's de facto central bank, kept its base rate steady at 3.50%. The territory's currency peg to the U.S. dollar bolts its monetary policy to that of the U.S., so the HKMA generally follows in lockstep with any interest rate adjustments by the U.S. Fed. Hong Kong banks usually follow interest rate moves by the HKMA, but aren't required to do so. -By Chester Yung, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; chester.yung@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=BB07S3gOH0a%2FA3rShDugPQ%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
