Foreign Currency Deposits Up $12.28 Billion in August... Corporate Dollar Deposits Surpass $100 Billion

Bank of Korea Releases "August 2026 Trends in Resident Foreign Currency Deposits"
Corporate Current Account Settlements and Exchange Rate Drop Drive Increase

In August 2026, foreign currency deposits held by domestic residents increased for the fifth consecutive month, rising by nearly KRW 12.3 billion, led by U.S. dollar-denominated and corporate deposits. Notably, corporate dollar deposits surpassed USD 100 billion for the first time in history, driven by booming exports and expanded current account settlements.

According to the "August 2026 Trends in Resident Foreign Currency Deposits" report released by the Bank of Korea on October 1, as of the end of August, resident foreign currency deposits at domestic foreign exchange banks stood at USD 140.62 billion, up USD 12.28 billion from the previous month.

An employee is holding up U.S. dollars at the Counterfeit Response Center of KEB Hana Bank in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

"Resident foreign currency deposits" refers to deposits held in foreign currencies by Korean nationals, domestic companies, foreigners residing in Korea for more than six months, and foreign companies with a business presence in Korea.

Resident foreign currency deposits increased by USD 15.88 billion in December of last year, marking the largest monthly gain since statistics began in 2012. After declining from January through March this year, deposits have been growing for five consecutive months starting from April. Although this month's gain slightly decreased compared to July's USD 15.01 billion increase, it still exceeded USD 10 billion for the second month in a row.

Among all currencies, U.S. dollar-denominated deposits drove the overall increase. Dollar deposits totaled USD 119.91 billion at the end of August, up by USD 10.99 billion from the previous month. After surpassing the USD 100 billion mark for the first time in July, corporate dollar deposits alone topped USD 100 billion in August, reaching USD 105.64 billion, an increase of USD 9.96 billion compared to the end of the previous month.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "The increase was driven by higher current account settlements among large corporations and inflows of customer deposits at securities firms." The official also noted that "an increase in advanced dollar purchases due to a fall in the exchange rate contributed as well." The KRW-USD exchange rate dropped from KRW 1,424.0 at the end of July to KRW 1,368.6 at the end of August.

Euro-denominated deposits rose by USD 1.1 billion, driven by current account settlements for certain companies. Yen-denominated deposits increased by USD 320 million from the previous month, as investor deposits flowed into securities companies.

By account holder, corporate deposits grew by USD 10.93 billion to reach a balance of USD 123.49 billion, while individual deposits increased by USD 1.35 billion to USD 17.12 billion.

By bank type, deposits at domestic banks increased by USD 8.47 billion to USD 110.86 billion, while deposits at foreign bank branches rose by USD 3.81 billion to USD 29.76 billion.

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