By Abby Schultz
The ranks of Asia's wealthy -- as well as the region's wealth --
continued to grow at a faster pace than the rest of the world last
year, the latest data from RBC Wealth Management and Capgemini
reveal.
Their annual snapshot of high-net-worth individuals -- those
with investable assets of US$1 million or more -- offers insights
on how many wealthy there are, how much they have and how they
invest and spend all that money.
First the headlines:
-- The number of Asia-Pacific wealthy rose 17.3% to 4.3 million
in 2013 compared with a 13.5% gain in the number of wealthy in the
rest of the world.
-- The amount of Asia-Pacific wealth grew at an even faster
18.2% rate to US$14.2 trillion in assets compared with a growth
rate of 12.3% in the rest of the world.
As for why this happened, a 56.7% rise in the Nikkei in 2013
didn't hurt. Japan's wealthy population spiked 22.3% to 2.3 million
in 2013 after rising only 4.4% the year before. Otherwise, the
region continued to benefit from rapid growth throughout the
region.
In the five-years since the financial crisis of 2008,
Asia-Pacific's economies have experienced a compound annual growth
rate of 5.7% compared with only 2.8% globally. The growth is led by
the emerging economies of China, India, Indonesia and Thailand, RBC
and Capgemini say.
In the global horse race for wealth, North America remains
slightly ahead with 4.33 million high-net- worth individuals and
total assets of US$14.88 trillion. The report authors expect
Asia-Pacific to overtake North America with more wealthy
individuals by the end of the year.
Here are some more fun facts:
-- The "ultra-wealthy" -- those with more than US$30 million in
investable assets -- are 0.7% of the region's wealthy, but they
have 26% of the wealth. This segment of Asia's rich grew faster
than other high-net-worth individuals in Asia last year and faster
the ultra-wealthy population in the rest of the world.
-- Wealthy investors in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan grew their wealth
by boosting overseas investments to 43.4% in 2014 from 30.2% a year
earlier.
-- They also invested more in real estate than wealthy investors
in the rest of the world, although their allocation to property
dropped to 23% of assets from a 24.6% share a year earlier.
-- Singapore's wealthy had the biggest equity allocation at
23.1%, while the wealthy in China were second with a 22.7%
allocation.
-- 93.2% of China's rich trust their personal ability to
generate wealth, while only 51.5% of Japanese do.
-- Food security tops the list of social concerns that attract
money, time and expertise from Asia-Pacific ex-Japan's wealthy, a
region that places a higher importance than the rest of the world
on "generating positive social impact."
-- India's wealthy put 40.3% of their "investments of passion,"
as RBC and Capgemini call it, into jewelry, gems and watches while
China's wealthy put 32.7% in this category.
Email: abby.schultz@barrons.com
Comments? E-mail us at asiaeditors@barrons.com
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