Yuan deposits from retail depositors fell for the fourth consecutive month in March, but the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said professional investors were still big buyers of yuan certificates of deposit (CDs).
Yuan deposits in the city fell by 2.1 per cent month-on-month to 554.3 billion yuan (HK$679 billion) as of March 31. This is down 5.8 per cent from the 588.5 billion yuan in total deposits as of December of last year, and 13.17 per cent lower than the 627.3 billion yuan peak recorded on November 30, HKMA figures show.
It is also the fourth consecutive monthly fall, which bankers said signalled that the currency was out of favour with retail investors who were less confident it would continue to gain against the US dollar this year.
But while retail yuan deposits are falling, the deposit pool from institutional investors who bought yuan CDs has been steadily rising over the past three months. CDs are issued by banks to raise money from professional investors and large depositors attracted by the yield, which is generally higher than yuan-denominated retail deposit accounts.
The amount of outstanding yuan CDs stood at 118.1 billion yuan on March 31, up from 73.1 billion yuan in December of last year, offsetting the fall in retail deposits.
Total yuan deposits, including customer yuan accounts and outstanding CDs, stood at 672.4 billion yuan on March 31, up 1.63 per cent from 661.6 billion yuan in December.