Asian millionaire club pips North American super-rich

Dubai - Middle East to post fastest surge in private wealth by 2020

Wealth in the Asia-Pacific region will climb 142 per cent to $42.1 trillion, while the Middle East and Africa will be the two other fastest-growing areas by 2025, latest data from Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2016 showed on Thursday.
The number of millionaires in Asia surged by 9.4 per cent in 2015 to position the continent with most super-rich people globally while toppling North America from first position, said the report.
According to the consultancy's survey, private wealth in the Asia-Pacific region surpassed that of North America for the first time last year, fuelled by stronger economies and real estate markets. There are now 5.1 million people in the Asia-Pacific region who collectively possess $17.4 trillion, up from $8.4 trillion in 2006, while
North America is home to 4.8 million millionaires in 2015, owning a total of $16.6 trillion.
"Poor performance in the equity markets in the US and Canada slowed growth in North America to a sluggish 2.3 per cent last year," said the report.

Globally, the wealthy have seen their net worth explode in recent years, skyrocketing from $16.6 trillion in 1996 to $58.7 trillion in 2015. That surge has mainly been powered by the rise of manufacturing and economic activity in China, Capgemini reported.
China, the US and India are expected to be the key drivers of growth in high-net-worth individuals' assets through 2025, by which time millionaires globally will have $106 trillion, according to the report. Wealth in the Asia-Pacific region will climb 142 per cent to $42.1 trillion, while the Middle East and Africa will be the two other fastest-growing areas, Capgemini said.
China's millionaire population rose 16 per cent, the biggest increase in the survey. The US, Japan and Germany still have more high-net-worth individuals, though, and there are more than four times the number of American millionaires than Chinese ones.
The rich are also getting richer in Europe where 4.2 million people own more than $1 million. In Germany alone, there were 1.2 million millionaires in 2015, marking a rise of 5.1 percent year-on-year. The number of millionaires in Latin America and Africa declined, the Paris-based consulting firm said.
"One of the main drivers of wealth in Germany was the surge in property prices," Capgemini expert Klaus-Georg Meyer said.
Cap Gemini surveyed more than 800 wealth-management companies across 15 major wealth markets to compile its report. A high-net-worth individual is defined as someone with investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding his or her primary residence and certain collectibles and consumer items, according to the company.
The report shows that while poverty is on the rise in many regions of the world, there's massive wealth at the other end of the scale.
Latin American millionaires, meanwhile, suffered a decline in net worth of 3.7 per cent, driven by political volatility and a turbulent stock market in Brazil. Europe's growth was steady, with a 4.8 per cent increase led by Spain and the Netherlands.
Of the 5.1 million Asian millionaires in 2015, 2.7 million came from Japan and 1 million were from China. There were 4.5 million US millionaires.
China had the fastest growth last year, hitting 16.2 per cent, and is expected to expand even further in coming years.
Wealth in Asia is driven mainly by the financial services, high tech and health care industries. And it i coming more from those owning start-ups than from those running long-standing businesses.
"It's a more entrepreneurial source of wealth," said Bill Sullivan, head of global financial services market intelligence at Capgemini.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com