BEIJING - Chinese financial institutions recorded some $1.23 billion of net foreign direct investment (FDI) in the third quarter of this year.

In the July-Sept period, a total of $3 billion of foreign investment flowed into Chinese financial institutions, including banks, insurers and securities firms, while $1.8 billion of investment flowed out, said the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

This is the second straight quarter of net investment inflow, following $2.1 billion of net inflows in the second quarter and $1.3 billion of net investment outflows logged in the first quarter.

Financial institutions invested about $2.8 billion overseas, up from $2.6 billion in the second quarter. However, some $3.5 billion of outbound investment flowed back to China in the same period, SAFE data showed.

SAFE has been publicizing the data on a quarterly basis since 2012, as part of the regulator's efforts to increase the transparency of foreign exchange statistics.

In the first nine months, the FDI into China's non-financial sectors edged up 1.6 percent, compared with a 0.2-percent drop during the January-August period.