The global financial crisis (GFC) appears to have only slightly moderated the rate at which people are becoming wealthy, according to the latest World Wealth Report compiled by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management with Capgemini.
The report, released earlier today, found the global population of high-net-worth (HNW) individuals had grown in 2010 to surpass the level recorded in 2007 – before the GFC.
It found the population of HNW individuals increased by 8.3 per cent to 10.9 million, with HNW wealth growing by 9.7 per cent to reach US$42.7 trillion.
The report data appeared to confirm the evidence that the Asia Pacific has been weathering the GFC better than most regions, with the Asia-Pacific posting the strongest regional growth and surpassing Europe for the first time in terms of the number of HNW individuals and their wealth.
The report said the Asia-Pacific was now second only to North America in terms of HNW wealth and population.
