Despite the pandemic, gross financial assets in the region rose by 12.7% in 2020, even faster than in the already strong previous year (9.8%), according to the latest edition of the Global Wealth Report by Allianz.
“Taking population growth and inflation into account, Asia (ex-Japan) is the undisputed growth champion, with per capita financial assets having increased more than fivefold on average since 2000. This is twice as fast as in the two other emerging regions, Eastern Europe and Latin America,” said the company in the report.
Singapore is the first in Asia, and sixth globally in terms of gross financial assets per capita for the year in Asia with €152,590 ($176,338), followed by Taiwan with €139,831, and Japan with €124,897.
Ranking first, Switzerland has gross financial assets per capita of €313,259, according to the report.
Among all asset classes in Asia, securities reported an annual growth of 13.9%, followed by bank deposits of 12.3% and pension funds by 11.4%.
This is higher than the world’s average of securities growth (10.9%), insurance and pension fund assets (6.3%). Cambodia led the region with growth of over 20%, followed by Sri Lanka (17.9%), South Korea (13.9%), and China (13.6%).
Asian liabilities growth in 2020 slowed down to 10.9%, which is the weakest increase since 2008. However, the debt ratio reached 61% at the end of last year, which is similar to the level in Italy or Germany, said the Munich-based company.
Finally, net financial assets in Asia increased by 13.5% year-over-year, with net financial assets per capita of €7,280. The regional average is well above that in other emerging regions such as Latin America (€5,390) or Eastern Europe (€5,960), but there is still a big gap to the global average of (€27,630).
Nonetheless, Asian countries are climbing up the ranks over the years, and the industry “has become more of a Scandinavian-Asian affair, but with the USA and Switzerland still reigning supreme.”
