The world’s largest wealth managers are predicting explosive growth in assets under management (AUM) in Asia over the next three years, according to a survey by investment banker Barclays Capital.
Respondents to the Barclays Capital Wealth Management Survey have forecast annual AUM growth of up to 17 per cent over the next three years in the top regional wealth markets of China, India and Korea.
The survey’s 40 respondent asset managers, together holding more than US$3 trillion in AUM, are also forecasting double-digit growth in annual AUM across Asia as a region.
Australia and New Zealand’s AUM growth are at the low end of the respondents’ AUM forecasts, below both the 13 per recent growth forecast for South East Asia and Taiwan and 11 per cent for Hong Kong.
Respondents were asked for projections on a total of seven geographic regions in Asia, including South East Asia, Korea, Hong Kong, India, China, Taiwan, and Australia/New Zealand.
The respondents predicted that AUM growth levels would result in them managing an estimated US$334 billion in assets for Korean high-net-worth clients (with AUM of more thanUS$500K+) in three years time, followed by US$256 billion for Indian clients and US$150 billion for Chinese clients.
They also expect to manage an estimated US$93 billion in AUM in China in three years’ time for mass-affluent clients (with AUM of betweenUS$100-500K), followed by US$50 billion each on behalf of Korean and Indian clients.
“The wealth management markets in Asia look strong for the years ahead and are a key focus for Barclays,’’ said Barclays Capital’s head of investor solutions, Non-Japan Asia, Peter Hu.
“Our Investor Solutions team has doubled in size in the past year and we expect it to continue to grow in the years ahead as investors and wealth managers increasingly look for tailor made investment solutions.’’
Equity was found to be the preferred asset class for high-net-worth individual clients, followed by credit or debt related products.
Commodities were found to be one of the highly derivatised asset classes in both the high-net-worth and mass affluent segments of the survey
