The city's top commercial banks are keeping their interest rates unchanged in spite of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's move to reduce the base interest rate by 25 basis points to 4 percent on Thursday.

HSBC and Bank of China (Hong Kong) announced they would keep their prime lending rates unchanged at 5 percent, while Standard Chartered said it was maintaining its prime rate at 5.25 percent.

The lenders had trimmed their rates by 12.5 basis points the last time that the HKMA cut the city's base rate by 25 basis points in late October.

The HKMA move to trim interest rates in lock step with the US Federal Reserve cut – which will see its target rate go down by a similar margin to a range of 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent following its final policy meeting this year – could have brought borrowing costs to the lowest levels in nearly three years.

The moves by the HKMA and Fed mark their third rate cut in three months, which together brings their key interest rates down by 75 basis points.

HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said the reduction would benefit the city's economy and property market by easing the financial burdens for businesses as well as people having to repay mortgages.

But he also warned about uncertainties ahead, pointing to dissent among members of the policy-setting US Federal Open Market Committee as well as pressures brought on by US inflation and labour market conditions.

"The future trend of US interest rates remains quite uncertain, which might influence the interest rate environment in Hong Kong," Yue said.

"The public should carefully manage interest rate risks when making their financial decisions.

"On Hong Kong dollar deposit and lending rates, banks would normally take into account factors such as the funding supply and demand, the level of interest rates and also their own funding cost structure to assess the merit and extent of adjustments."

The HKMA, Yue also said, has been in close contact and discussions with the SAR government, the insurance and banking sectors, as well as the legal industry, to follow up on mortgage issues arising from the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.

He said a solution over these mortgages could only be proposed after insurance and replacement matters as well as legal procedures had been dealt with and pointed to an announcement by the banking industry that mortgage repayments would be suspended for six months to give time for a solution to be reached over these loans.

He also said that different measures would continue to be introduced for victims of the fire tragedy after the industry had rolled out 11 initiatives to offer relevant banking service support.