The latest installment in the perennial debate between Singapore and Hong Kong being the private banking hubs of the East may give the former an upper hand.
By Shruti Advani, Guest Contributor finews.asia
Singapore ranks the highest in Asia – above Hong Kong and China – as the ninth richest country in the world based on average household wealth per adult, according to the new Global Report Report compiled by Credit Suisse. Interestingly, Hong Kong was ranked above Singapore in 2000 – a time when most global private banks chose one or the other to set up shop in.
Since then, wealth per adult grew at an average rate of 4.3 percent in Hong Kong versus 5.3 percent in Singapore. The city-state also recorded higher economic growth for the same period.
Few Poor
Financial assets account for 55 percent of household wealth in Singapore, a figure similar to that in Switzerland, which Singapore has long tried to emulate in private banking. Average debt is at $53,000 – or 16 percent of total assets – moderate for such a wealthy country.
Despite its low tax rates, wealth inequality in Singapore is not extreme – a mere 14 percent of Singaporeans have wealth below $10,000, compared with 64 percent globally.
At the other end of the scale, the fraction of Singaporeans with wealth above $100,000 is five times the global average. Reflecting how rich the city-state is, 0.5 percent of its adults, or 220,000 individuals, are in the top 1 percent of the global wealthy. This is a strikingly high number given that Singapore accounts for just 0.1 percent of the world’s adult population.
More Millionaires
Total wealth in Hong Kong grew by 5.8 percent to reach $1.5 trillion by mid-2018 and is projected to increase by 5.4 percent per year over the next five years to $2 trillion by 2023. Roughly 179,000 Hong Kong-ees are millionaires, up 9 percent from the previous year.
The special administrative region’s millionaire population is expected to grow 35 percent over the next five years to reach 242 000 by 2023. In Hong Kong, 1,907 individuals own more than $50 million, taking the region to 15th place in a global ranking of billionaires.
