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By CHino S. Leyco Researcher
Despite the record growth of the
economy, the number of super-rich Filipinos is not growing as fast,
based on the latest Asia Pacific Wealth report.
In their report on High Net Worth
Individuals (HNWI), Merrill Lynch and Capgemini said that people
living in Asia with assets of more than $1 million, excluding their
primary assets such as homes, have grown in countries like Japan,
China, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, and even Indonesia.
The number of millionaires in
Asia swelled by 8.6 percent, with Japan home to more than 1.47
million. The report said there were 2.6 million HNWIs across the
region. Japan has 43.7 percent of the region’s share of
super-rich.
In addition, the report also
found the number of ultra-HNWIs—those with net assets of more than
$30 million—rocketed by 12.2 percent, to a total of 17,500.
China had the second largest
number of HNWIs with 345,000, up 7.8 percent, followed by Australia
with 161,000, up 10.3 percent, and South Korea with 99,000, up 14.1
percent.
The fastest-growing countries for
millionaires were Singapore, India and Indonesia, which saw the
number of HNWIs rise by 21.2, 20.5 and 16 percent respectively,
compared to a global increase of 8.3 percent.
Hong Kong had the highest average
net worth for HNWIs of $5.4 million in the region and the highest
concentration, with 1.44 percent of the population having net assets
above a million dollars.
“Overall, it’s a story of
growth, growth and more growth for the HNWI marketplaces throughout
the region,” Rahul Malhotra, Head of Asia Pacific Merrill Lynch
Global Wealth Management, said. “While HNWI investment behaviors
differ from market to market, the underlying drivers of wealth
remain strong overall and we expect the region will continue to
outpace the global rate of growth in HNWI wealth.”
The report found that increases
in the number of millionaires followed strong overall economic
growth in the region and booming stock markets.
China’s economy as measured by
its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 10.5 percent last year,
while India’s increased by 8.8 percent, the report said.
It also found a large increase in
real estate investments, both in terms of commercial property and
trusts linked to the industry. Investors in South Korea held 42
percent of their assets in real estate, the highest in the region.
Victor A. Abola, University of
Asia and the Pacific economics professor said the reason why the
Philippines is not included on the list, is the country’s economic
growth is just recent.
“Thailand should make it first
on the list before us because their per capita income in twice
higher compared to Philippines,” Abola said in a telephone
interview.
In the second half of the year,
the economy grew 7.5 percent, the fastest pace in two decades owing
to higher infrastructure, services and industry growth.
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