While recent Australian-based research suggests financial advisers remain cautious about the outlook, their counterparts in the broader Asia/Pacific are more optimistic, according to the latest Barclays Survey of Wealth Managers.
The survey, released this week, suggests much of the optimism is based on a belief that China will not this year suffer a hard landing, and that the long-term trend in wealth accumulation is expected to continue in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Barclays survey is based on data collected at its seventh annual Wealth Management Conference held in Hong Kong this week, with 109 respondents from 65 firms across eight Asian countries.
Barclays said respondents included banks, private banks, broker dealers, fund managers and insurance companies.
Importantly, the survey pointed to the continued emergence of "ultra high net worth" clients as becoming more significant and now making up 24 per cent of assets under management (AUM), up from 19 per cent last year.
Commenting on the survey results, Barclays head of distribution for Asia Pacific Philippe El-Asmar said it reflected growing optimism about the global economic recovery.
"It is encouraging to see high hopes for AUM growth rates and confidence in the China, Indonesia and India stories," he said.
El-Asmar said there were also signs that wealth managers remained optimistic when looking outside Asia.
