European investment opportunities are becoming less enticing for Russia’s millionaires, who are looking to the Asia-Pacific region, research reveals.
With more than 160,900 millionaires at the end of 2014, Russia’s wealthy elite are worth in excess of $1.2 trillion, and hold approximately 32 per cent of their wealth in overseas investments, according to WealthInsight data.
WealthInsight head, Oliver Williams, said the latest figures showed the proportion of Russian millionaires’ offshore investments into Europe has been forecast to fall by more than 10 per cent over the next four years, from 50.5 per cent in 2014 to 40.3 per cent by 2019.
“With the country facing a severe recession it is only natural that Russia’s wealth should hedge their bets by stashing their wealth overseas,” Williams said.
“However, this year we have noticed less of that money coming into Europe and a growing amount being invested in parts of the Middle East and Asia.”
The WealthInsight research found that Russian millionaires had increased their investment allocations into the Asia-Pacific region by seven per cent between 2010 (15 per cent) and 2014 (22 per cent), with further growth forecast over the next four years.
