Foreign Currency Deposits by Residents in October Increase by $8.15 Billion Mainly in US Dollars and Japanese Yen

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jung] Last month, residents' foreign currency deposits increased significantly by more than 8 billion dollars, mainly in US dollars and Japanese yen, showing a rising trend for two consecutive months.

According to the resident foreign currency deposit trends for October announced by the Bank of Korea on the 21st, as of the end of last month, the balance of residents' foreign currency deposits at foreign exchange banks was 97.65 billion dollars, an increase of 8.15 billion dollars compared to the end of the previous month. This is the largest increase since October 2017 (9.62 billion dollars).

Residents' foreign currency deposits refer to domestic foreign currency deposits held by nationals, domestic companies, foreigners residing in Korea for more than six months, and foreign companies operating in Korea.

By entity, corporate deposits amounted to 83.38 billion dollars, increasing by 7.82 billion dollars in one month.

Individual deposits also rose by 330 million dollars to 14.27 billion dollars.

By currency, US dollar deposits increased by 7.54 billion dollars to 84.8 billion dollars, and Japanese yen deposits rose by 430 million dollars to 5.71 billion dollars. On the other hand, euro deposits decreased by 30 million dollars to 4.11 billion dollars.

The Bank of Korea explained, "In the case of US dollar deposits, the increase was centered on corporations due to the deposit of export-import settlement payments and delays in spot foreign exchange sales," and "Japanese yen deposits increased due to collateral deposits related to securities lending transactions by some securities firms and net spot foreign exchange purchases by companies."

By bank type, domestic banks held 88.59 billion dollars, an increase of 6.66 billion dollars, while foreign bank branches held 9.06 billion dollars, up by 1.49 billion dollars.

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