JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has more super-rich households worth more than $100 million than anywhere else in the region, a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said Wednesday. The BCG's eleventh annual Global Wealth report found that there are 839 ultra wealth families in Germany, beating Saudi Arabia with only 826. But the study confirmed America remains the land of the loaded and home of the bling-bling, with 2,692 households classified as being super-rich. Wealth grew fastest in the Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan) region last year at 17.1 percent. The strong performance of financial markets during the year accounted for the lion's share (59 percent) of the growth in global assets owned by the wealthy. Singapore had the highest proportion of millionaire households of any country with 15.5 percent or almost one in six households worth $1 million or more, well ahead of Switzerland and the Arabian Gulf. Germany is now second only to the US when it comes to "super-rich" households worth more than $100 million (€70 million). The BCG study showed Germany's riches are simply spread across more extremely wealthy households rather than concentrated in the hands of a few billionaires. BCG calculated the assets of German private investors to be €5.2 trillion, noting that the wealthy in Germany tended to favor less risky investments than their foreign counterparts. Whereas Germany's private wealth is likely to see annual growth of 3.8 percent until 2015, the rich in China and India are set to see their fortunes grow 14 and 18 percent growth respectively during the same period. China currently has only 393 super rich households, but the rising Asian powerhouse easy beats Germany for "average" dollar millionaires. Though Germany has 400,000 millionaires overall, China has 1.1 million. In the region, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE also ranked among the 10 nations with the highest density of ultra-high net worth individuals, the report said, showing wealth in the Asian region is growing at a rate unmatched elsewhere. Saudi Arabia had the highest concentration of UHNW households, measured per 100,000 households, at 18, while Kuwait had eight, Qatar had six and the UAE had five. "Given the demographics and overall wealth of these petroleum-rich countries we would expect a higher proportion of UHNW households than in other parts of the world," said Dr Sven-Olaf Vathje, partner at BCG Middle East. Overall wealth in the Middle East and North Africa grew 8.6 percent to $4.5 trillion in 2010, aided by high oil prices, and is expected to reach $6.7 trillion by 2015, BCG said. "Growth in assets under management also reflects the strong fundamentals of the region, driven by continuing strong petroleum prices," Vathje added. Globally, the ranks of millionaires swelled by 12 percent in 2010. Singapore led the field, with a 33 percent rise in its number of millionaires. The US had the most $1 million-plus households, with 5.2 million, followed by Japan and China. Global assets under management rose by eight percent to $121.8 trillion in 2010, beating the study's previous peak of $111.8 trillion in 2007. BCG said international and local banks are ramping up investment in the Gulf in a bid to capture a slice of the region's growing wealth. "You see a lot of banks in the UAE but also the other GCC countries that are investing actively into wealth management. It's pretty clear why that's the case as it's a very stable source of revenue if you do it right," said Markus Massi, partner at BCG Middle East. "Many banks have seen their investment banking revenues and corporate banking revenues go through some roller coaster over the last couple of years so the desire to participate in this global business is very strong." Wealth managers are also targeting the women in the six Gulf states, who hold around 22 percent, or $0.7 trillion, of the region's wealth. Despite the vast wealth of Middle East investors, risk appetite remains far lower in this region compared to other parts of the world. Investors favor low risk investments, opting to hold 56 percent of assets under management in cash, compared to 13 percent in bond portfolios and 31 percent in equities. "There is a lot of cautiousness about investing. This is not only this year, if you look back five and ten years, you will have seen a very similar picture," said Massi. Regional investors also favor sector, asset classes and geographies they have an affinity with. Oil and gas is the favored sector to invest in followed by the industrial and manufacturing segment and education and healthcare. Despite the significant declines in real estate prices over the last two years, it remains the most popular asset class followed by capital protected products and GCC equities. The GCC, India and SEA/China are the preferred three countries to invest in, said BCG.
