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Overseas financial assets hit record high of $2.88 trillion in 2025

Published: 25 Feb. 2026, 13:50

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York in this file photo from August 28, 2024. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea's external financial assets reached a record high in 2025, driven by increased overseas securities investment and valuation gains, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's external financial assets stood at $2.88 trillion as of the end of December, up $362.6 billion from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The total marked the highest level ever, while the pace of growth also hit a record high.

Of the external financial assets, securities investments by Korean residents rose by $271.9 billion on year to reach an all-time high of $1.26 trillion. Direct investment also climbed to a new high of $828.9 billion, increasing $66.2 billion from the previous year.

"Residents' investments in foreign equities and bonds increased, along with valuation gains from rising global stock prices," BOK official Moon Sang-yoon told a press briefing. "But external financial liabilities rose by a larger margin as nonresidents' investments in domestic securities surged in line with sharp increases in local stock prices."

The annual increases in external financial liabilities and nonresidents' securities investment were also the largest on record last year.

External financial liabilities rose by $560.4 billion to reach $1.97 trillion. Nonresidents' securities investment increased by $520 billion to $1.35 trillion, while direct investment rose $28.3 billion to $315.3 billion.

As the increase in external financial liabilities outpaced that of external financial assets, the country's net international investment position fell by $197.8 billion on year to $904.2 billion, marking the first decline since 2020, the BOK said.

Yonhap