Number of millionaires in Singapore up 5 per cent to 105,100: Report

SINGAPORE - The ranks of the wealthy in Singapore swelled to a new high last year, fuelled primarily by strong economic growth amid flat or slightly softer local equity and real estate markets.

The number of high net worth individuals, or people with investable assets of at least US$1 million excluding their homes, jumped nearly 5 per cent or 4,600 to 105,100, according to the latest World Wealth Report by consulting firm Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) released today.

The total amount of wealth held by Singaporeans jumped 7 per cent or US$33.5 billion to reach US$522.5 billion.

Across the Asia Pacific, the number of wealthy individuals surged 17.3 per cent to 4.32 million, making the region the world's second-largest population of millionaires after the United States. The total amount of wealth held in the region was up 18.2 percent to US$14.2 trillion,

But the race remains close with Asia's growth in the number of wealthy individuals and total amount of wealth held outpacing that of America's.

Last year America's population of wealthy people grew 16 per cent to 4.33 million last year, while total amount of wealth held grew 17 per cent to US$14.88 trillion.

The Asia Pacific region is positioned to surpass that of the US in terms of the numbers of wealthy individuals by this year, and by total amount of wealth by 2015, the report said.

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