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S. Korean holdings of foreign securities grow most in seven years

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Foreign securities held by South Korean financial companies grew the most in seven years on demand for bonds issued by foreign players and foreign currency bonds sold by local players, central bank data showed Friday.

Foreign securities holdings by local financial firms, including insurers, brokerages, banks and asset managers, were 95.4 billion U.S. dollars as of end-2014, up 20.9 billion dollars from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the largest growth since 2007 when the holdings increased by 61.1 billion dollars.

The fast increase came as domestic insurance and asset management companies raised holdings of foreign bonds and the Korean Paper, which refers to foreign currency-denominated securities sold overseas by the South Korean government, financial institutions and companies.

Insurers raised the ownership of foreign securities by 12.7 billion dollars in 2014 to 39.19 billion dollars, and asset managers lifted the holdings by 6.1 billion dollars to 44.13 billion dollars.

Holdings of foreign bonds jumped 11.3 billion dollars last year, with those for the Korean Paper growing 8 billion dollars. The ownership of foreign stocks rose 1.6 billion dollars on a gain in investment returns caused by higher global stock markets. Endi