BEIJING - China's financial institutions received 15.05 billion yuan ($2.36 billion) in net foreign direct investment (FDI) in the third quarter this year, the country's foreign exchange regulator said on Wednesday.

The figure is lower than the 25.33 billion yuan in net FDI received in the second quarter, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Net overseas direct investment from China's financial institutions, including banks, insurers and securities firms, totaled 7.3 billion yuan in the third quarter, lower than the 14.13 billion yuan in the second quarter.

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

Despite signs of capital outflows as China's growth tempers, SAFE has repeatedly stressed that this is normal and does not indicate capital flight.