Investors Turn Overseas... Last Year's Foreign Currency Securities Custody and Settlement Amount Hits Record High

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Last year, domestic investors' overseas securities transactions recorded an all-time high.

According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 29th, the settlement amount of foreign currency securities by domestic investors through the Depository in 2019 was $171.22 billion, and the custody amount was $43.62 billion, both marking record highs. These figures represent increases of 56.0% and 20.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Last year's foreign stock settlement amount was $40.98 billion, up 25.8% from the previous year, while the foreign bond settlement amount was $130.23 billion, an increase of 68.8% compared to the previous year.

Among all markets, the Euro market accounted for the highest proportion of foreign currency securities settlement amount at 59.3%, and the top five markets by settlement amount (Euro market, United States, Hong Kong, China, Japan) accounted for 98.8% of the total.

Among foreign stocks, Amazon (United States), ranked first in settlement amount, recorded $1.64 billion, down 29.9% from the previous year. The remaining top stocks (excluding ETFs) were all U.S. tech stocks: Microsoft, Alphabet A, Nvidia, Apple, and Tesla.

Meanwhile, the custody amount of foreign stocks was $14.45 billion, up 46.9% from the end of the previous year, and the custody amount of foreign bonds was $29.16 billion, an increase of 10.2%.

Among all markets, the Euro market had the highest proportion of foreign currency securities custody amount at 62.6%, and the top five markets by custody amount (Euro market, United States, Japan, China, Hong Kong) accounted for 95.6% of the total market custody amount.

By country, the United States showed the largest increase in both settlement and custody amounts compared to the previous year. The settlement amount was $59.5 billion, up 79.3% from 2018 ($33.18 billion), and the custody amount was $9.4 billion, up 79.3% from the end of 2018 ($5.24 billion).

The settlement amount of Eurobonds (Euro market bonds) was $100.83 billion, up 52.9% from the previous year, and the custody amount increased by 9.8% to $27.18 billion.

Additionally, Japan's settlement and custody amounts increased by 2.9% and 16.8%, respectively, while China's increased by 23.7% and 39.8%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.