Resident Foreign Currency Deposits Plunge by $9.41 Billion in September... Decline Continues for Second Month

The Bank of Korea's September Resident Foreign Currency Deposit Trends
USD down by 9.19 billion, JPY up by 100 million

Foreign currency deposits held by residents in South Korea decreased for the second consecutive month. While dollar deposits sharply declined by over 9.1 billion dollars, yen deposits increased by 100 million dollars due to individuals placing surplus funds.

According to the "September Resident Foreign Currency Deposit Trends" released by the Bank of Korea on the 24th, foreign currency deposits held by domestic residents last month totaled 89.69 billion dollars, down 9.41 billion dollars from the previous month.

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

Resident foreign currency deposits had increased consecutively in May (+5.4 billion dollars), June (+3.04 billion dollars), and July (+5.17 billion dollars), but turned to a decline in August (-5.9 billion dollars) and continued to decrease for two consecutive months through September.

By currency, dollar deposits and euro deposits decreased by 9.19 billion dollars and 140 million dollars respectively compared to the end of the previous month, while yen deposits increased by 100 million dollars.

The Bank of Korea explained that dollar deposits decreased due to some companies selling spot foreign exchange, payment of import settlement funds, and precautionary overseas fund transfers ahead of the Chuseok holiday, while euro deposits decreased due to payment of import settlement funds.

Regarding yen deposits, the increase was attributed to export settlement receipts and individuals placing surplus funds.

By entity, corporate deposits (75.22 billion dollars) and individual deposits (14.47 billion dollars) decreased by 9.22 billion dollars and 190 million dollars respectively.

Also, by bank type, domestic banks (80.81 billion dollars) and foreign bank branches (8.88 billion dollars) decreased by 8.54 billion dollars and 870 million dollars respectively.

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