Asia-Pacific set to outpace as super rich hub

The Asia-Pacific region is on track to snatch the crown from North America as the world's largest wealth market next year, underscoring a resilient economic growth despite a slight slowdown of late, a survey shows.

The region lost to North America as the No 1 wealth hub last year as investors there benefited from the equity market rally in the United States as it swung to the highest level since the global financial crisis, according to a report by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.

Wealth owned by high-net-worth individuals in Asia reached US$12 trillion by the end of last year, compared with US$12.7 trillion in North America. High-net-worth individuals are those with liquid assets of more than US$1 million.

At the end of last year, Asia had 3.68 million high-net-worth individuals while North America had 3.73 million. However, this relative weakness would be "temporary" as Asia remained the best place for rapid wealth accumulation until 2015, the report said.

It expects the wealth of these individuals in the Asia-Pacific to grow at 9.8 per cent annually to reach US$15.9 trillion by 2015, surpassing North America's US$15 trillion then.

Asia's gross domestic product is expected to grow 6.6 per cent this year and 6.8 per cent next, according to the report. That compares with 2.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent annual global growth for the same years.