BEIJING, Aug. 9 -- China's financial institutions received 1.826 billion yuan (274 million U.S. dollars) in net foreign direct investment (FDI) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2016, the forex regulator said Tuesday.

The figure is lower than the 3.501 billion yuan in net FDI received in Q1 this year, 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 37.918 billion yuan in Q2 of 2016, higher than the 11.614 billion yuan in Q1.

SAFE has been releasing data on a quarterly basis since 2012 to increase the transparency of foreign exchange statistics.

China's economy held steady at 6.7 percent in the second quarter of the year, the lowest quarterly level since the dark days of the global financial crisis in early 2009 but still within the government's target range of 6.5-7 percent for 2016.