【明報專訊】THE era of near-zero interest on savings accounts has finally ended for Hong Kong people. OCBC Wing Hang Bank has said it will raise Hong Kong dollar savings deposit rates from 0.01% per year to 0.25%. It is the first time since the 2008 financial crisis that a local bank has adjusted the passbook savings rate. Though the zero interest era in the US ended nearly three years ago, the normalisation of Hong Kong interest rates has been slow. While that has fuelled the crazy growth of local home prices, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has declined to exercise discretion and conduct open market operations proactively to reduce the interest rate differential between the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) and the US dollar (USD), producing many after-effects on people's livelihood. In recent months, local banks have successively lifted interest rates for fixed-time deposits and mortgage rates. The savings rate hike announced by one of the banks this time shows that local interest rates have already reached the critical point at which it is necessary to follow the upward movement in US rates. With the US Federal Reserve (Fed) highly likely to announce another rate hike at the end of this month, the balance of the Hong Kong banking system may be further reduced. Such being the case, the prime lending rate is expected to increase very soon. One cannot rule out the possibility that local banks may opt for repeated rate hikes to catch up with the US. Hong Kong people should be well prepared for that.