Will become world’s largest wealth management market.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new report reveals that Asia is set to overtake North America as the world’s largest wealth management market, a direct result of the number of millionaires in the region having shot up over the course of 2013.
The World Wealth Report, which was released on Wednesday by Capgemini Worldwide and RBC Wealth Management, shows that new millionaires – defined as those who have at least $1 million in investable assets on-hand – grew by 18% in 2013. That is by far the fastest rate of growth for millionaires in any region of the world, and soundly beats the 4.32% found in North America.
If this current rate continues to grow, Asia-Pacific will certainly overtake the US, and it will simply be a matter of “when,” not “if.” According to Capgemini and RBC, that “when” will be 2015, with the report saying that Asia-Pacific will have more millionaires than North America by the end of next year.
“Asia-Pacific continued to drive global HNWI [High Net Worth Individual] population growth in 2013, with its HNWI population recording the largest increase among regions by 17.3%, to reach by 4.32 million to narrow the gap on North America – the region with the largest HNWI population at 4.33 million – to just 10k individuals,” says the report.
“While North America maintained its position as the largest HNWI market, Asia-Pacific is expected to surpass it in the very near future. Asia-Pacific also led in HNWI wealth growth, the wealth of its HNWIs growing 18.2% to reach US $14.20 trillion,” the report also states.
The report’s map shows that the Asia-Pacific region includes south, east, and Southeast Asia, along with Australia and all neighboring island nations.
Worldwide, the number of wealthy individuals grew by 15% in 2013, an increase over the 13.7% that the number grew in 2012. The total wealth of all of the world’s millionaires also grew by 14%, allowing it to hit a new record high of $56.2 trillion worth of aggregate wealth among the world’s richest people.
Millionaires around the world will continue to see their money grow at an estimated average rate of 6.9% per year, meaning that by the end of 2016, the aggregate wealth sum will hit a new record sum of $64.3 trillion.