Beijingers seem to become a bit more reluctant to put their money in banks' baskets and more willing to use it to buy financial instruments, including stocks, mutual funds and insurance, according to figures from the Beijing business department of the People's Bank of China in the nation's capital.

Latest statistics show that in May, RMB-denominated savings deposits at all banks in the city decreased by 2.6583 billion yuan(340.96 million US dollars) from the previous month, including 2.63 billion yuan (316.87 million US dollars) in current deposits and 2 billion yuan (24.1 million US dollars) in time deposits. It was the second monthly reduction since April.

By the end of May, savings deposits outstanding at the banks stood at 557.2 billion yuan (67.13 billion US dollars), 27.84 billion yuan (3.35 billion US dollars) more than the level at the beginning of the year. But the increment was 14.53 billion yuan (1.75 billion US dollars) less than the increment in May last year, the lowest growth rate since September 2001.

The cool-off was in large part due to mounting intentions to invest in treasury bonds, stocks, mutual funds and insurance, relevant figures show.

According to a separate questionnaire survey of Beijing depositors conducted for the second quarter of this year, those who were willing to buy equities and insurance made up 20.25 percent and 7.25 percent respectively of the total respondents, up3.25 percentage points and 2.75 percentage points respectively over the previous quarter.

About 8 percent and 8.5 percent of the investigated said they held stocks and mutual funds, respectively, up 1.5 percentage points and 2.75 percentage points.

Source: Xinhua