Billionaire wealth increased 17 percent to US$6 trillion last year, after a decline the previous year, UBS AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a report issued yesterday.
Led by China, the number of the region’s billionaires surpassed the US for the first time, but US billionaires still control the most wealth at US$2.8 trillion, the report, titled New value creators gain momentum, showed.
Asia’s economic expansion saw, on average, a new billionaire created in the region every other day. Should that pace continue, Asia would overtake US as the world’s largest concentration of wealth in four years, the Swiss bank and the auditing firm said in an analysis of data from about 1,550 billionaires.
“A combination of geopolitical stability in Greater China, rising Chinese real-estate prices, infrastructure spending, the growing middle class and buoyant commodity prices all joined together to boost wealth,” the report said.
Three-quarters of the world’s new billionaires hail from China and India.
The number of Asian billionaires rose by 117 for a total of 637, with self-made billionaires seeing their wealth rise faster than those who became rich through family ties. The US added 25 billionaires for a total of 563.
Europe’s number was basically flat at 342 in part due to death and because “entrepreneurial companies can find Europe a difficult place to do business due to both the conservative business culture and strict regulations,” UBS said.
The world’s 500 richest people have added US$824 billion so far this year, an increase of 19 percent, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Their total net worth was estimated at US$5.2 trillion as of Wednesday.
Peer networks are playing an increasingly important role for billionaires when it comes to making and giving away money, the survey said.
“Informal and formal networks orchestrate deals and investments, as well as helping with other topics such as philanthropy, inheritance and art,” the report said.
Billionaires are a key target segment for UBS, the world’s largest wealth manager, as the bank expects the wealth of ultra-high-net-worth individuals to grow faster than the world average.
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