Beaten only by North America, Asia-Pacific has
become the world’s second-largest wealth management market, recent
research has found. The region’s population of high net worth (HNW)
individuals grew by 9.7% in 2010 to 3.3 million.
According to the 2011 Asia-Pacific Wealth
Report by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and
Capgemini, Japan, China and Australia accounted for 74.4% of the
HNW population and 68.2% of the wealth in Asia-Pacific.
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Japan alone accounted for 52.5% of the total
HNW population and 38.2% of the wealth in the region at the end of
2010.
China had the second-largest number HNW
individuals in Asia-Pacific, and fourth-largest in the world, as
numbers grew by 12% year-on-year to 535,000.
Overtaking Europe
Last year, the study found, the wealth of HNWs
in Asia-Pacific grew by 12.1% to $10.8trn, pushing Europe into the
third place with $10.2trn.
It also found the number of ultra-HNW
individuals in Asia-Pacific rose 14.9% in 2010 to 23,000. Ultra-HNW
wealth in Asia-Pacific grew by 16.8% in 2010, beating the 11.5%
increase of global ultra HNW wealth.
Dealing with clients in
Asia-Pacific
According to the report, in 2010, 27% of
region’s HNWs were investing in real estate, while 26% chose to
hold their money in equities.
HNWs are likely to increase exposure to
equities and fixed-income holdings, while cutting the amount held
in cash/deposits by 2012, the study forecasts.
Going forward, it also emerged that, due to
the majority of Asia-Pacific HNWs being business owners, the wealth
management firms able to provide ‘enterprise value’ – the ability
to leverage capabilities from across different business units –
will have an advantage when it comes to serving clients.
The research defined HNWs as those having $1m
and more in investable assets, while UHNWs were defined as those
having $30m-plus in investable assets.
