Asia's wealthy swelled their ranks last year, with the number of high net worth individuals in the region outstripping the global average, according to Merrill Lynch.
Many of Asia's nouveau riche have risen to their lofty financial heights on the Internet revolution of the past 12 months, having already bloated the wallets of Americans and Europeans, a Merrill Lynch report said.
The investment bank, in co-operation with Gemini Consulting, found that the number of super-rich in Asia grew from 1.3 million to 1.7 million and they saw their bank balances improve by an average 23 per cent last year, against a global rise of 12 per cent to US$25.5 trillion.
Much of the rise was attributed to improving global economic conditions - particularly across Asia, where countries and companies emerged from 18 months of recession.
Linked to this was the performance of share markets in the region, where growth averaged 70 per cent compared with the 37 per cent global rise. In comparison, the US market rose only 29.5 per cent last year.
In its world Wealth Report, Merrill Lynch said if this rate of growth were sustained, the number of Asian high net worth individuals could begin to rival those in Europe and the US.
Globally, Merrill Lynch noted the increasing emergence of younger, active high net worth individuals, who created their wealth through technology-oriented enterprises. Public listings of Internet companies and the increasing frequency of related corporate option packages was significantly intensifying wealth creation.