The ranks of millionaires in Asia for the first time surpassed Europe and in a few years are expected to overtake the United States, according to the latest annual Merrill Lynch-Capgemini World Wealth Report, Reuters reported. Powered by fast-growing China and India, the Asia-Pacific region's millionaire ranks rose 10 percent to 3.3 million, second only to the 3.4 million residing in North America and inching ahead of Europe, which had 3.1 million. Asia's combined wealth, up 12 percent to $10.8 trillion last year, surpassed Europe and threatens to overtake the United States and Canada, where wealth rose 9 percent to $11.6 trillion. "Their capital markets may be emerging, but their economies have clearly arrived," John Thiel, head of Merrill's private banking group and its "Thundering Herd" of 15,700 U.S. brokers, told Reuters. "They're not 'emerging' anymore." More than half of the world's millionaires are still found in the United States, Japan and Germany, but that the wealthy are spread among more countries, according to Merrill and global consulting firm Capgemini. Assets held by millionaires worldwide rose by 9.7 percent to a record $42.7 trillion -- surpassing the previous high-water mark set in 2007 -- while the ranks of people with at least $1 million of investable assets, excluding their primary residence, rose 8.3 percent to 10.9 million, the report found. Some of that growth came as manufacturing, exports and domestic growth helped places like Hong Kong, Singapore and India create legions of members for the millionaires' club. The findings echo a PricewaterhouseCoopers report published Monday, which found that Singapore and Hong Kong could surpass London and Switzerland as the world's top wealth management hub by 2013. -- SPA
