According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the burgeoning number of millionaires and billionaires now hold close to half of global personal wealth, up from less than 45 per cent in 2012. At the forefront, the big two – USA and China – remain in the lead with the most number of millionaires and billionaires. Although China trails behind the US, the main driver of growth for the country has been the growing size of the “mass affluent” segment – namely those with US$250,000 to US$1 million of investable assets. Wealth creation in China is expected to continue soaring at a similar growth rate over the next five years. Hong Kong is also highly concentrated with wealthy individuals who have more than US$20 million, holding 47 per cent of investable riches. However, it was the Middle East that had the greatest slice of the pie in terms of wealth held in investable assets, with US$3.1 trillion out of a total US$3.8 trillion. The BCG study also revealed that Switzerland remained as the largest centre for managing offshore wealth with US$2.3 trillion, followed by Hong Kong with US$1.1 trillion and Singapore with US$0.9 trillion. However, both Singapore and Hong Kong have managed to grow at yearly rates of 11 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, in the last five years, surpassing the yearly growth rate of Switzerland.
