Seoul, Aug 9 (IANS): South Korea's foreign currency deposits grew the largest in eight months as brisk exports increased corporate deposits denominated in foreign currency, central bank data showed Friday.

Foreign currency retail deposits rose $2.71 billion from a month earlier to $36.57 billion as of the end of July, the highest since November 2012, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Robust exports led companies to deposit export proceeds into foreign currency bank accounts. The country's exports expanded 2.6 percent on-year in July after falling 1 percent in the prior month, reported Xinhua.

Domestic firms increased issuance of securities denominated in foreign currency that was deposited in the bank accounts, the central bank said.

Corporate deposits denominated in foreign currency were $32.46 billion as of end-July, up $2.38 billion from a month earlier. Individual deposits increased $330 million to $4.11 billion over the same period.

By currency, retail deposits denominated in the US dollar ranked first in terms of deposit size with $30.65 billion. This was trailed by the European single currency with $2.47 billion, the Japanese yen with $2.41 billion and other currencies, including the British pound, the Australian dollar and the Chinese yuan, with $1.04 billion.