The Swiss bank predicts strong HNW population growth in China, Asia and Europe over the coming five years.

Most regions of the world got richer last year and the US will remain home to the largest number of millionaires in 2023, with the number rising to 20.478 million by that year and a rise of 18 per cent from this year, a study predicts. Across the world, there will be 55.206 millionaires by 2023, rising by 31 per cent over the five-year period, it said.

Credit Suisse, in its annual study of wealth trends, also underscores why so many big-brand wealth firms are deploying more staff and bulking up booking centres in Asia.

China will have 5.647 million high net worth persons by 2023, surging to 62 per cent from now. The 59-page study also projects strong gains in wealth in emerging market regions such as Southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent.

The report, issued yesterday, also said that women globally hold more than 40 per cent of total wealth (financial and non-financial assets combined), and that among certain population cohorts, such as Millennials, women are narrowing the wealth gap with men, carrying important implications for issues such as asset allocation and approaches to advice.

“The tendency shows that more self-made women are succeeding in business and are entering the highest wealth ranks. Despite this trend, even in those countries where progress is the strongest, some categories of women – such as single mothers and divorcees – remain disadvantaged,” Urs Rohner, chairman of Credit Suisse, said in introductory comments to the report.

Around the world there are 42.2 million millionaires, rising by 2.3 million from a year ago. In the US, the country added 878,000 new millionaires in the 12 months to mid-2018, making up 40 per cent of the global increase. In France, Germany and UK, each nation added about 200,000 millionaires.

In the 12 months to the middle of this year, aggregate total wealth (financial assets and real estate, minus debt) reached $317 trillion, rising by 4.6 per cent on a year earlier, equating to $14.0 trillion. The pace of growth was slower than a year earlier but above the average annual rate seen since the 2008 financial crash.

Wealth per adult rose by 3.2 per cent, raising wealth per adult to $63,100, Credit Suisse said.

The largest percentage rise in total wealth was in North America (6.5 per cent) from a year ago, followed by Europe (5.5 per cent); China (4.6 per cent); India (2.6 per cent), then Asia-Pacific (1.7 per cent). In Latin America, which has been hit by economic problems in countries such as Brazil and a sharp deterioration to socialist Venezuela, wealth has contracted by 4.9 per cent.

Inequality
Referring to the sensitive issue of inequality, the report said that the richest decile (top 10 per cent of adults) owns 85 per cent of wealth, and the top percentile holds 47 per cent of wealth.

In the past couple of years, as some of the effects of central bank money printing (aka quantitative easing) have come off, the boost to financial assets after 2008, and the associated rise in inequality, may be turning over, Credit Suisse said.

The share of the top decile and the top 5 per cent remains at the same level as in 2016, while the share of the top 1 per cent has edged down to 47.2 from 47.5 per cent. Such trends are repeated in a number of countries.

“While it is too early to say that wealth inequality is now on a downward trend, the prevailing evidence suggests it may well have leveled out, albeit at a very high level,” the report’s authors said.

“The millionaire and ultra-high net worth portions of the wealth pyramid have changed more than any other segment this century. The number of millionaires has trebled, while the number of UHNW individuals (with net worth exceeding $50 million) has risen fourfold,” the report said.

The report was written by Professor Anthony Shorrocks, honorary professional research fellow at the University of Manchester; Professor Jim Davies, member of the Department of Economics at the University of Western Ontario; and Dr Rodrigo Lluberas, analyst at the research department of Uruguay Central Bank.