Singapore ranked 9th globally in wealth per adult: Credit Suisse

Singapore

IN TERMS of wealth per adult, Singapore is ranked ninth among the world's major economies, with the figure having risen 5.3 per cent to more than US$283,000 between mid-2017 and mid-2018.

Credit Suisse Research Institute's 2018 Global Wealth Report, released on Thursday, has Switzerland still in pole position among the world's richest nations. Its wealth per adult stands at US$530,240, followed by Australia with US$411,060.

Singapore's wealth per adult has risen by more than 146 per cent since 2000, with the increase coming mainly from high savings, asset price increases and a rising exchange rate from 2005 to 2012.

Its average debt of US$53,000, accounting for 16 per cent of total assets, is moderate for a high-wealth country, said Credit Suisse.

Financial assets make up 55 per cent of gross household wealth in the island state, a ratio comparable to that of Switzerland's.

Singapore's total wealth is about US$1.3 trillion; this is forecast to grow by 4.6 per cent a year in the next five years to US$1.6 trillion in 2023.

The number of millionaires in the Republic grew 11.2 per cent to 183,737. This is expected to go up by 5.5 per cent a year in the next five years to hit 239,640.

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, each with more than US$50 million to their name, numbered about 1,000 in mid-2018, 1.1 per cent more than the year before.

Globally, wealth grew by 4.6 per cent to US$317 trillion, outpacing population growth. Wealth per adult went up by 3.2 per cent, raising global mean wealth to a record US$63,100 per adult.

The US was the biggest contributor to global wealth, as it added US$6.3 trillion, continuing its winning streak of yearly growth in total wealth and wealth per adult since 2008. Its total wealth now stands at US$98 trillion.

Meanwhile, China has the second-largest household wealth having added US$2.3 trillion to reach US$52 trillion. The country's wealth is projected to grow another US$23 trillion in the next five years to comprise 19 per cent of global wealth by 2023, up from this year's 16 per cent.

Non-financial assets were the main growth drivers in all regions except North America, and accounted for three-quarters of wealth growth in China and Europe, and 100 per cent in India.

John Woods, Credit Suisse's chief investment officer for the Asia-Pacific, said: "The United States and China are the obvious outperformers and drivers of wealth growth, despite rising trade tensions."

He added that asset price and exchange-rate fluctuations had the heaviest impact in Latin America and parts of the Asia-Pacific, contributing to much of the year-on-year variation in wealth levels. Currency depreciation against the US dollar also affected wealth trends in some of the major regional economies such as Australia and India.

The Asia-Pacific economies continue to make a significant contribution to the global high-net-worth wealth pool, with China, Japan, Australia, Korea and Taiwan accounting for more than 8.8 million millionaires, or more than 20 per cent of the global total, Mr Woods said. The Asia-Pacific (including China and India) emerged on top as the largest wealth region, as household wealth grew 3 per cent to more than US$114 trillion.

This year's report includes themes such as the global wealth outlook for women, which appears to have stalled since 2000; it also covers the narrowing gap between the top two and bottom two tiers of the global wealth pyramid.

In its overall wealth outlook, Credit Suisse projects global wealth to rise by nearly 4.7 per cent a year over the next five years to US$399 trillion.