Operating profits at American and Canadian private banks rose 11% to US$12.3 billion in 2012 as client assets increased by 8%, according to consultancy firm McKinsey.
According to the report, North American banks also succeeded in cutting their operating cost margin by 7% as headcount fell by almost 6%, including a 9% cut in client-facing staff.
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The survey also found almost 20% of European banking centres recorded a pre-tax operational loss in 2012, up from just 5% in 2005.
However, profit margins rose for the first time in Asia since the financial crisis. According to the consultancy’s estimate, overall earnings jumped by 40% to US$5.4 billion.
The report says that millionaires in Asia outside Japan will create US$7 trillion in net new wealth by 2016, boosting the share of global riches from emerging markets.
China, India, South Korea and Taiwan are the leading wealth generators in Asia, where millionaires’ personal financial assets will surge 15% a year to reach US$15.8 trillion from US$9 trillion at the end of 2012, McKinsey said in a survey of private banks.
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By GlobalDataMillionaires’ personal wealth in western Europe will climb 4% annually to US$15.7 trillion by 2016 from US$13.7 trillion at year end 2012, while total private wealth worldwide will rise to US$80 trillion from US$60 trillion, according to the report.
McKinsey estimates that globally, the number of millionaires will rise 30% to 16 million by 2016. North American millionaires’ assets will jump 7% a year to US$27.4 trillion by 2016 from US$22.6 trillion at the end of 2012.
