SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The holdings by South Korean financial institutions of foreign securities hit a new record high last year amid the prolonged low rate trend here, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Local financial institutions, including banks, insurers, brokerages and asset managers, owned 241.4 billion U.S. dollars of foreign securities in 2017, up 67.6 billion dollars from the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The institutional ownership of foreign securities kept a record-breaking trend for the third consecutive year as the BOK maintained a low-rate trend for the protracted period of time, leading financial institutions to purchase high-yield assets overseas.
The BOK raised its benchmark interest rate in November last year to 1.5 percent from an all-time low of 1.25 percent, the first rate increase in almost six and a half years.
The foreign securities holdings by asset managers jumped 44.7 billion dollars over the year to 124.4 billion dollars in 2017 as the asset management firms purchased foreign stocks amid the global stock market boom.
Insurers held foreign securities worth 79 billion dollars in 2017, up 14.1 billion dollars from a year earlier.
By asset type, the institutional holdings of foreign bonds expanded 38.6 billion dollars to 125.9 billion dollars, while those for foreign stocks gained 25.6 billion dollars to 71.4 billion dollars.
