Households in Asia ex-Japan increased their exposure to securities investments last year at a faster rate than any other asset class, according to the latest global wealth report from Allianz.
At 13.5%, securities investments posted the strongest growth among all asset classes on a year-on-year basis followed by insurance and pension assets (8.1%), and bank deposits (7.7%).
Bank deposits remained the dominant asset class though as households held a sizeable 48.9% of their assets there.
When looking at asset growth, Allianz noted that Asia continues to be a “region of two speeds”.
Asia ex-Japan posted an 11.3% increase in asset growth in 2021, which made it the third fastest region globally behind both Eastern Europe (12.2%) and North America (12.5%).
The robust growth was mainly driven by emerging markets, such as Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, which all posted double-digit growth due to backlog demand following the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
China’s gross financial assets also increased by 12.2%, according to the report.
On the other hand, mature markets such as Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan reported slower growth.
While gross financial asset growth in Asia ex-Japan slowed down compared with the year before, the report found liabilities growth accelerated to 10.3% in 2021.
The rising debt level was mainly attributed to overheating housing markets, Allianz noted.
