High net worth Asians are creating a new global diaspora and Australia and New Zealand are way ahead as the top destinations for this wave of affluent individuals to call home.

This is one of the key findings of HSBC’s Affluent Asian Tracker research, conducted by survey group Nielsen in November in 1,718 interviews across eight Asia-Pacific markets. The survey targets the top 10 per cent of the population by wealth, based on either monthly personal income or liquid assets.

The research found that a significant number of wealthy Chinese, Singaporeans and Malaysians are fixated on living in either Australia or New Zealand and plan to do so in the next ten years. Almost a third of wealthy Malaysians and Chinese plan to make the move as do one in five wealthy Koreans.

These nationalities already have strong links, particularly to Australia, with almost half of the wealthy Malaysians surveyed already having family living in Australia. This statistic was also high among wealthy Chinese (27 per cent), Singaporeans (30 per cent) and Japanese (29 per cent).

Wealthy Indians, however, tend to took to the US as their top destination but 13 per cent of them are also planning to move to Australia in the next ten years.

“As Asia’s affluence grows, an Asian diaspora will emerge, led by the wealthy,” says Graham Heunis, head of personal financial services for HSBC Bank Australia.

“Australia will be a key beneficiary of this movement due to anticipated population growth through immigration – expected to reach around 35 million by 2051 (from around 20 million today),” the report said.

“Indeed, new statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that in the four months to October, China was Australia’s top source of immigrants, for the first time eclipsing the United Kingdom and India,” it continued.

Mr Heunis also said the survey showed that Asian investors had come through the global financial crisis relatively unscathed, with a doubling of the number of Asians reporting their wealth had increased in the past six months.

Leading the charge were wealthy Chinese, 70 per cent of whom reported their net wealth had increased, compared with only 46 per cent six months ago. They were followed closely by Indians (68 per cent), Taiwanese (61 per cent) and Australians (42 per cent).

Encouraged by this trend, over half of the group surveyed are planning to invest in the next six months, with diversification of investments a key driver. Asia Pacific and other emerging markets top the list of key investment areas.

“The region’s growing affluence is a key driver for investment activity and the diversification of asset holdings, and with the accelerating shift of economic focus from West to East, Australia is even more a key part of the Asian emerging markets story,” said Mr Heunis.

“The emerging Asian diaspora will be led by those buying a second home abroad, expanding their business internationally or investing offshore in multiple locations,” he said.

“International connectivity will become increasingly important as they integrate and manage their wealth across multiple borders,” he continued.

The research snapshot also shows that the vast majority of the Asia Pacific’s newly affluent individuals gained their wealth through employment, rather than from business enterprises or inherited wealth.

It also reveals that Singaporean, Taiwanese and mainland Chinese are the biggest savers, with Australians and Indonesians at the bottom of the savings table.