The population and wealth of Asia-Pacific’s high net worth individuals increased at double and triple the rates of HNWIs in the rest of the world over the last five years, according to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report 2013 (APWR), published by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.
APWR report showed that in 2012, the region’s HNWI population has expanded by 9.4% to reach 3.68 million, whereas their wealth increased by 12.2% to reach $12 trillion, driven by GDP growth of 5.5%, which is more than double the global average.
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The survey shows that Asia-Pacific region is on track to snatch the crown from North America as the world’s largest wealth market next year, underscoring a resilient economic growth despite a slight slowdown of late.
North America holds the top position as the world’s largest wealth market by HNWI population. It was up 11.5% in 2012 to reach 3.73 million.
The report further states that the wealth of HNWI individuals in the Asia-Pacific is expected grow at 9.8% annually to reach US$15.9 trillion by 2015, surpassing North America’s US$15 trillion then.
RBC Wealth Management & RBC Insurance group head M. George Lewis expects the Asia-Pacific region to be home to the largest wealth market population by 2014.
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By GlobalDataLewis said: "Asia-Pacific’s robust growth in 2012 builds on over five years of consistent outperformance. The region’s high net worth population and wealth has increased by 31% and 27% respectively since 2007, far outpacing growth in the rest of the world of 14% and 9%."
Jean Lassignardie, chief sales and marketing officer, Capgemini Global Financial Services, said: "GDP growth of 5.5%, which is more than double the global average, combined with strong equity market performance across the region and strong real estate market performance in some markets, drove robust growth in Asia-Pacific’s HNWI population and wealth in 2012. This GDP growth rate is projected to drive Asia-Pacific’s growth in HNWI population and wealth through 2014."
According to the report, Hong Kong’s HNWI population grew by 35.7% and their wealth by 37.2%, while India’s population grew by 22.2% and their wealth by 23.4%.
Japan and Taiwan were the only markets to experience single-digit increases in HNWI population, though both still showed steady growth at 4.4% and 7.0% respectively.
The report also found that growth in Asia-Pacific’s Ultra-HNWI population and wealth, at 15.4% and 17.8%, was the highest among all wealth bands. It significantly exceeded gains made by Ultra-HNWIs in the rest of the world, who expanded in number by 9.7% and wealth by 9.4%.
This survey was done with responses across 1,400 HNIs in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore (and over 4,400 HNIs in total), almost 80% of HNWIs in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) highly trust their wealth managers and firms, compared to about two-thirds of HNWIs in the rest of world.
The report said that 69.4% have high confidence in financial markets and 72.2% in regulators, compared to just 44.6% and 38.3% of HNWIs in other regions.
In line with overall high trust levels, outlook of Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan) HNWIs is extremely positive; with 90.5% confident they can build wealth in the near future, led by those in India (95.7%) and China (95.2%).
