BEIJING — China's external portfolio investment assets, excluding reserve assets, amounted to $979.7 billion by the end of 2021, according to the country's foreign exchange regulator.

Of the total, 648.4 billion dollars was in equity investments and 331.3 billion dollars was in bond investments, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Non-bank financial institutions held 390.4 billion dollars of external portfolio investment assets, accounting for 40 percent of the total. Banks held 238.1 billion dollars, or 24 percent of the total.

The nonfinancial sector held $351.2 billion of such assets, accounting for 36 percent of the country's total, SAFE said.

The top five recipients of Chinese investments were China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom, according to SAFE.