Banks Seeking Hong Kong Deposits Push Rates as High as 3%
- StanChart is among lenders competing in $292 billion business
- Banks are securing funding in anticipation of loan growth
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Competition in Hong Kong’s $292 billion time-deposit business is intensifying as a surge in short-term borrowing costs forces banks to seek other avenues of funding.
With interbank rates climbing ahead of expected Federal Reserve hikes and a slew of potential initial public offerings, lenders from Standard Chartered Plc to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd. have been raising time-deposit rates to more than 2 percent in some cases. China Citic Bank International Ltd. now pays as much as 3 percent to new savers who transfer their funds into three-month Hong Kong dollar deposits.