ETF sales distributed by South Korea's four largest banks slumped 83.1% in July to 1.92 trillion won, the first return to the 1-trillion-won range since December, as a steep equity selloff pushed investors out of risk assets and into time deposits. The retreat followed a 22.2% fall in the KOSPI, South Korea's benchmark stock index, which briefly touched the 6,000 level last month. Over the same period, stock-market investor deposits fell by about 17 trillion won and demand deposits at KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and NongHyup dropped by roughly 45 trillion won, underscoring a broader pullback in funds parked for investment. Much of the money leaving ETFs appears to have shifted into bank time deposits, helped by intensifying risk aversion and higher deposit rates. The four banks' combined time-deposit balance rose to 813.81 trillion won at the end of July from 784.04 trillion won a month earlier, while some lenders offered annual rates between 3.2% and 3.85%. The slowdown threatens a key earnings support for banks, because ETF-linked trust fees had become an important source of non-interest income after rising 85.4% year on year to 800.2 billion won in the first half.