Guess who misses the boat?
(SINGAPORE) Singapore is expected to pull ahead of Hong
Kong as home to the highest concentration of millionaires over the
next decade, sealing its reputation as a wealth centre not just in
Asia but worldwide.
And while the US and Japan should remain the top two largest global
economies, emerging markets such as China, India, Russia and Brazil
will make their presence felt more strongly.
Now ranked seventh in terms of total net worth, China will grab
third place by 2017, bypassing several G7 countries to become the
third-richest country, while India is expected to make its debut in
the top 10 list at No 8. Russia and Brazil will also display
significant growth, moving up from 19th to 11th place and 15th to
12th place respectively.
With the Economist Intelligence Unit, Barclays Wealth released a
report yesterday that forecasts the evolution of the level and
distribution of household wealth in 50 countries between 2007 and
2017. Household wealth was measured using three components -
financial holdings such as cash and other liquid assets,
non-financial holdings such as property, and an aggregate measure
that combined the two.
Last year, Singapore trailed Hong Kong in highest wealth density,
with 23.3 per cent of residents having wealth of more than US$1
million. But by 2017, Singapore is expected to see this figure grow
to 40.7 per cent - some 436,000 households - in comparison to Hong
Kong's predicted 39.4 per cent.
According to the report, countries with the highest percentage of
dollar millionaires tend to be small, densely populated financial
centres such as Singapore and Switzerland.
In addition, the study revealed that the disproportionate
distribution of wealth is expected to narrow as the concentration
of wealthy households in Singapore, with US$3 million and US$5
million, is on an upward trend. Households with wealth of US$3
million will more than double from the current 5.1 per cent to 12.5
per cent, while those with US$5 million will almost triple from 2.1
per cent to 6 per cent.
Barclays Wealth chief executive for Asia-Pacific, Didier von
Daeniken, pointed to Singapore's recent efforts to shift its focus
from manufacturing towards technology and financial services. In
addition, the opening up of previously protected sectors, like
financial services, and bilateral trade agreements serve as an
impetus to garner foreign direct investment.
For China, wealth creation has stemmed largely from the stock
market and real estate. Citing figures from Ernst & Young, the
report said 464 IPOs were launched in China over the past three
years, raising US$134 billion. As the country's economy continues
to expand, the average net worth per household is expected to
quadruple, from US$18,000 in 2007 to US$74,000 10 years
later.
'Asia now represents 25 per cent of HNWI individual wealth globally
but only about 10 per cent of the income of the major private
banks,' said Mr Daeniken. 'Growth for private banks can come from
two areas - more penetration of existing wealth and more wealth
being created.'
In Asia, Barclays clients are typically entrepreneurs, a trend that
is expected to remain in the future.
Is there any use to gloat over - ''Singapore is expected to pull
ahead of Hong Kong as home to the highest concentration of
millionaires over the next decade'' ?
It would have been much better if it had read that Singapore is
expected to pull ahead of Hong Kong with its own significant
concentration of HOME GROWN MILLIONAIRES.
The Singapore Middle Income Group has been struggling
and sinking since the last economic downturn, and has not recovered
but have been battered even harder since the 2006 Elections.
With inflation rising and wage increases being tightly
controlled or even frozen in some sectors, can there be any
consolation to the average Singaporeans if Singapore manage to
become ''HOME to more millionaires than Hong Kong'' ?
If at all, it will simply exacerbate the Class Divide between
the disgustingly obscene Rich and the hapless Poor.
Singaporeans will be brain washed to accept that without the
Millionaires being present there will be less jobs to go
around.
Will the Millionaire Ministers be prepared to sacrifice their
wages to help the growth of more millionaires amongst
Singaporeans ?
If the Millionaire Ministers are unwilling to sacrifice their
million dollar wages to achieve this task, can we expect the same
from the foreigner millionaires - as if they owe Singaporeans a
living ?
