China will nearly triple millionaires by 2015 and half of Asia millionaires

Julius Baer, the leading Swiss private banking group, today published its first ‛Julius Baer Wealth Report’, focusing on Asia.

* The estimated 1.16 million HNWIs across Asia with wealth of USD 5.60 trillion in 2010 is forecast to more than double to 2.82 million with wealth to almost triple to USD 15.81 trillion by 2015.

* China alone is forecast to have 1.40 million HNWIs with stock of wealth of USD 8.76 trillion by 2015. (China had 502,000 millionaires in 2010)

The almost tripling of millionaires’ assets in the 10 nations from $5.6 trillion in 2010 will be also driven by currency appreciation in the region, adding to the economic growth and gains in asset values, according to the report. The currency gains may create 600,000 new high net worth individuals, or people with more than $1 million of investible assets excluding their primary residence, by 2015.

The study assumes nominal GDP growth of 14.5 percent a year for China, combined with a currency appreciation of 5 percent annually in dollar terms.

India will be the second-biggest market among the 10 economies by 2015, with 403,000 millionaires and a combined $2.5 trillion in wealth, said the report, which excludes Japan. South Korea will be ranked third.

The number of millionaires in China grew by 12 percent to 534,500 last year, according to a report by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management in June. China ranked fourth in terms of the rich population, trailing the U.S., Japan and Germany.

In 2015, China would be close to catching up the number of millionaires in Japan.

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