Asia-Pacific represented 27.1 per cent of the world’s high net worth individuals - those with net financial assets of at least $1 million ex...

Asia-Pacific represented 27.1 per cent of the world’s high net worth individuals - those with net financial assets of at least $1 million excluding their primary residence and consumables in 2005, according to the newly-released Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini Asia-Pacific Wealth Report. The new report is a regional extension of the firms' annual World Wealth Report and provides an in-depth view of the changing Asia-Pacific wealth management market. Five of the 10 fastest-growing high net worth populations in the world are located in Asia-Pacific according to the report and the number of HNWs in the region grew by 7.3 per cent to 2.4 million from 2004. The number of ultra high net worths, those having net financial assets of more than $30 million, grew by 12.1 per cent, to 15,600, say Merrill and Cap Gemini. The total wealth of the Asia-Pacific high net worth population was $7.6 trillion in 2005, growing at 8 per cent over 2004. The report also reveals that wealth was more heavily concentrated in the lower HNW wealth bands but that the UHNW group grew at a faster pace than HNWs in 2005. This suggests that wealth will concentrate as Asian markets further develop, says the report. According to the report, South Korea, India and Indonesia were home to the three fastest growing HNW populations in the world, expanding 21.3 per cent, 19.3 per cent and 14.7 per cent, respectively. Although Japan has more than half of the HNWs in the region, it has only a 30 per cent share of UHNWs. Together, China and Japan hold over 65 per cent of the region’s $7.6 trillion financial wealth. HNW saturation levels differed by market, suggesting varying levels of market potential, according to the report. Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore were found to show higher than average levels of market saturation, while Indonesia, India and China ranked lowest in terms of their HNW concentrations. HNWs from China and Hong Kong had the highest average net worth.