According to a report by Xinhuanet (October 17, 2011), Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini found that the number of wealthy people in the Asia-Pacific region grew 9.7 percent to 3.3 million in 2010, becoming the second-largest region behind North America in terms of wealth. This is leapfrogging Europe for the first time.

The report, which defined the wealthy as people with at least $US1 million in net assets (excluding their homes, collections, consumer and durable goods), said the wealth of Asia-Pacific rich surpassed Europe as early as in 2009 and increased 12.1 percent to US$10.8 trillion last year, compared with Europe’s US$10.2 trillion.

In the Asia-Pacific region, real estate and equities investment still made up the primary choices for the rich last year, with 27 percent choosing housing market, far higher than the global average of 19 percent.

The report also predicted that the Asia-Pacific wealthy will beef up stock and fixed-return investment while reducing holdings of cash and deposit from 2011 through 2012.

While economy stumbles globally

The rich & famous have cash to splash around still.

(Source: China.org.cn)