The region has witnessed a growth rate of 10.4 percent taking the number of HNWI to 440,000 and their combined wealth rising 12.5 percent to $1.7 trillion at 2010-end.
The HNWI population also grew in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the report said.
“The world’s HNWIs expanded in population and wealth in 2010 surpassing 2007 pre-crisis levels in nearly every region,” the report added.
At the end of 2010, the number of HNWIs grew in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain but declined marginally in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia had 113,300 HNWIs in 2010, an increase of 8.2 percent from 2009. In Bahrain, there were 6,700 HNWIs in 2010, up 24 percent from 2009. While in the UAE, the HNWI population declined by only 3.5 percent to 52,600 in 2010, in contrast with the larger decline of 18.8 percent in 2009.
“The past few years have seen great fluctuations in HNWI wealth and population,” said Tamer Rashad, Middle East head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
“In 2010, we saw growth rates slow down from the higher double-digit levels of 2009 when many markets were quickly returning from significant crisis-related losses.”
Global HNWI population and wealth growth reached more stable levels in 2010, with the population of HNWIs increasing 8.3 percent to 10.9 million and HNWI financial wealth growing 9.7 percent to reach $42.7 trillion, compared with 17.1 percent and 18.9 percent respectively in 2009.
The global HNWI population remained highly concentrated in the US, Japan and Germany, which together accounted for 53 percent of the world’s HNWIs.
The US is still home to the single largest HNW segment in the world, with its 3.1 million HNWIs accounting for 28.6 percent of the global HNWI population.
“While over half of the global HNWI population still resides in the top three countries, the concentration of HNWIs is fragmenting very gradually over time,” said Karthikeyan Rajendran, sales director, Middle East, Global Financial Services, Capgemini.
“The concentration of HNWIs among these areas will continue to erode if the HNWI populations of emerging and developing markets continue to grow faster than those of developed markets.”
The global population of Ultra-HNWIs2 grew by 10.2 percent in 2010 and its wealth by 11.5 percent. In 2010, the Middle East had one of the highest growth rates after Africa, with HNWIs population rising by 10.4 percent to 440,000, and their combined wealth increasing by 12.5 percent to $1.7 trillion.
Asia-Pacific posted the strongest regional rate of HNWI population growth in 2010 among the top three markets.
While HNWI wealth had already overtaken Europe in 2009, Asia-Pacific has now surpassed Europe in terms of HNWI population, expanding 9.7 percent to 3.3 million, while Europe grew 6.3 percent to 3.1 million.
Asia-Pacific HNWIs’ wealth gained 12.1 percent to $10.8 trillion, exceeding Europe’s HNWI wealth of $10.2 trillion, where the wealth increase was 7.2 percent in 2010.
Asia-Pacific is now the second largest region for both HNWI wealth and population, second only to North America.
Also of note in the Asia-Pacific region, India’s HNWI population became the world’s 12th largest in 2010, entering the top 12 for the first time.
By the end of 2010, HNWIs held 33 percent of all their investments in equities, up from 29 percent a year earlier. Allocations to cash/deposits dropped to 14 percent in 2010 from 17 percent in 2009 and the share held in fixed-income investments dipped to 29 percent from 31 percent.
Among alternative investments, many HNWIs favored commodities.
Commodity investments accounted for 22 percent of all alternative investments in 2010, up from 16 percent in 2009.
