South Korea's stock market crash has driven stock investors to shift their funds back to banks, with more than 24 trillion won moved into fixed deposits.

According to South Korean media outlet Daum, South Korea’s stock market has seen heightened volatility recently, with investors’ risk appetite cooling sharply as funds flow back to safe-haven assets like bank deposits from equities. Driven by semiconductor sector corrections and stricter oversight of leveraged investments, idle funds in the South Korean stock market have exited rapidly, triggering a so-called "reverse capital migration" phenomenon. Data shows that as of the end of July, time deposit balances at South Korea’s five major banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup) reached 973.49 trillion won, rising by 24.09 trillion won from the previous month, marking the largest monthly increase so far this year. Funds linked to the stock market have also contracted noticeably. Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association indicates that investor securities account deposits (idle funds earmarked for stock trading) hit an all-time high of 139.69 trillion won on June 4, but fell to 107.20 trillion won by July 28, a reduction of over 32 trillion won in less than two months. Margin loan balances, which represent the scale of leveraged market transactions, dropped to 33.19 trillion won in the same period, down roughly 4.5 trillion won from the 37.72 trillion won peak set on July 2, a decline of around 12%.