Millionaires in Asia outside Japan will create $7 trillion in net new wealth by 2016, boosting the share of global riches from emerging markets, according to McKinsey & Co.
China, India, South Korea and Taiwan are the leading wealth generators in Asia, where millionaires’ personal financial assets will surge 15 percent a year to reach $15.8 trillion from $9 trillion at the end of 2012, McKinsey said in a survey of private banks.
Asia, combined with fast-growing Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and central and eastern Europe, will account for about 37 percent of an estimated $80 trillion of global private wealth by 2016, up from 24 percent at the end of 2008.
“Asia is the highest growth region for private banks and will continue to be so,” McKinsey said. “Most private banks are trying to broaden their product offerings to cater to the specific needs of an Asian clientele.”
First-generation Asian millionaires will help the region deliver more than one third of profit sources for global private banking by 2016. The Chinese market is “open to competition as nearly half of China’s high-net-worth individuals have only a limited understanding of private banking,” according to the survey.
International managers with offshore units in Asia won’t reap all the benefits of the growth as more than three quarters of wealth is booked onshore where local banks dominate. Taking into account lower margins on offshore assets versus onshore assets in the region, local banks will outperform international firms, McKinsey said.
Future growth in personal wealth in Asia will be slightly lower than the 16 percent annual increase from 2008 to 2012, McKinsey said. Asia outside Japan, the third-largest wealth market at the end of 2012 behind North America and western Europe, will climb to second place over the next four years.
Worldwide, the number of millionaires will rise 30 percent to 16 million by 2016, according to McKinsey. North American millionaires’ assets will jump 7 percent a year to $27.4 trillion by 2016 from $22.6 trillion at the end of 2012.
Millionaires’ personal wealth in western Europe will climb 4 percent annually to $15.7 trillion by 2016 from $13.7 trillion at year end 2012, while total private wealth worlwide will rise to $80 trillion from $60 trillion, according to the report.
The shift in wealth toward developing economies and the need to adjust to a new generation of clients combined with a rapid increase in tax and regulatory requirements may prompt private banks to become more selective in their geographical focus, client mix and services and fuel industry consolidation, McKinsey said.
