India and Hong Kong witnessed the biggest growth of high net
worth individuals (HNWIs) in Asia-Pacific in 2009, reversing losses
made at the height of the downturn.
The 2010 Merrill Lynch/Capgemini
Asia-Pacific Wealth report said the two economies experienced
the strongest HNWI population growth (Hong Kong 104.4% and India
50.9%), followed by Taiwan (42.3%).
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But Japan retained its number one spot as the
largest single market for HNWIs in the region.
Overall, Asia-Pacific’s population of HNWIs,
those defined as having investable assets of $1m or more, grew
“substantially” in size and wealth in 2009, the report said.
The HNWI population and its wealth gained
25.8% and 30.9% respectively, since 2008.
By the end of 2009, the wealth of the 3m
Asia-Pacific HNWIs totalled $9.7trn.
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By GlobalDataJapan alone accounted for 54.6% of
Asia-Pacific HNWIs, down only marginally from 56.8% in 2008 and
40.3% of wealth at the end of 2009.
China also held onto its position as the
second-largest HNWI-base in the region, with 477,000 HNWIs, up
31.0% from the previous year.
Asia-Pacific economies proved to be the most
resilient in the world, helped in particular by strong GDP growth
in China and India.
A stream of private banks has recently
targeted the region as a potential gold-mine for tapping into the
HNWI market.
HSBC Private Bank and
RBC Wealth are just two of the world’s top private banks that
have openly announced plans to increase task force and investment
in the region.
The report singled out equities and real
estate as specific areas for growth.
Equity market capitalisation surged 73.6% to
$16trn during 2009 (from a 53.5% decline in 2008) and housing
prices recovered after incurring heavy losses during the
crisis.
Looking ahead, the report forecasts
Asia-Pacific economic growth to outpace the rest of the world in
2010 and 2011.
China and India are singled out as likely to
experience the fastest growth in HNWIs population growth.
