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 nonfinancial sectors edged up 1.6 percent, compared with a 0.2-percent drop during the January-August period.