Domestic Institutions' Overseas Securities Investment Surpasses $400 Billion Last Year

(Data provided by Bank of Korea)

As of the end of last year, the balance of foreign currency securities investments by major domestic institutional investors exceeded 400 billion dollars.

According to the "2021 Trends in Foreign Currency Securities Investments by Major Institutional Investors" released by the Bank of Korea on the 2nd, the balance of foreign currency securities investments (market value basis) by major domestic institutional investors such as asset management companies, foreign exchange banks, insurance companies, and securities firms was recorded at 402.72 billion dollars at the end of last year.

This represents an increase of 29.97 billion dollars (8%) from 372.75 billion dollars in 2020. The increase was smaller compared to 61.63 billion dollars in 2019 and 42.09 billion dollars in 2020.

By institutional investor type last year, asset management companies (33.71 billion dollars) and foreign exchange banks (2.94 billion dollars) increased, while insurance companies (-3.43 billion dollars) and securities firms (-3.25 billion dollars) decreased.

By product, foreign stocks increased by 36.91 billion dollars, while foreign currency-denominated securities issued by residents abroad (Korean paper) decreased by 5.51 billion dollars, and foreign bonds decreased by 1.43 billion dollars, respectively.

The Bank of Korea explained, "Foreign stocks increased mainly due to valuation gains from rising stock prices in major countries and expanded new investments, centered on asset management companies (36.05 billion dollars)."

Foreign bonds decreased mainly due to insurance companies (-2.25 billion dollars) and securities firms (-1.47 billion dollars). Valuation losses caused by the rise in global bond yields had a significant impact.

Korean paper decreased across securities firms (-1.98 billion dollars), asset management companies (-1.53 billion dollars), and insurance companies (-1.41 billion dollars).

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