Singapore, UAE Wealth Advisors In Sunniest Economic Mood; Grumpy In Europe - Study

Tom Burroughes

21 January 2013

Financial advisors around the world polled by Skandia International, part of Old Mutual Wealth, are mostly increasingly positive about the global economic outlook, with those based in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates taking the cheeriest view, new figures show.

European advisors are the exception to the more positive trend, having grown more pessimistic over 2012, the firm said.

Based on responses from 534 advisors in Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, UK, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Thailand, the survey produced a reading of 5.8 out of 10 at the close of 2012; that reading compares with 4.9 in the middle of last year.

Advisors in Singapore and the UAE felt most confident about the global economy with a score of 6, followed by advisers from across Asia (5.8).

The continued worries about the eurozone’s debt have made advisors in the region fretful: they swung from reporting the highest global confidence level at the beginning of 2012 (5.7 in the first three months of last year) to the lowest overall at the end of the year (5.1).

Advisors operating in the UK are slightly less confident than average in the global economy, but have still seen confidence improve from 5.3 out of ten at Q3 to 5.6 now.

This is, however, up from the 2012 low during Q2 when a confidence level of just 4.8 was reported.