BEIJING - Overseas direct investment to China's financial institutions, including banks, insurers and securities firms, saw a net outflow of $1.29 billion in the first quarter of 2017, the nation's foreign exchange regulator revealed Tuesday.

The figure saw an increase from a net outflow of $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, or was equivalent to roughly half of the net outflow of overseas investment to the industry registered for the whole of 2016, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.