Gulf has highest concentration of millionaires

Dubai, Sept 7 (PTI) The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are among the world's top five countries which enjoy the highest concentration of millionaire population in the world, a new study claims.

The Boston Consulting Group's report, 'A Wealth of Opportunities in Turbulent Times' says the wealth management opportunity in the Middle East is mainly concentrated in Gulf Cooperation Council (G.C.C.) countries -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Dubai and Singapore are becoming regional private banking centres offering greater competition to traditional havens such as Switzerland; offering little choice to banks, brokerages and money managers, but to expand their presence in these fast growing centres, the report said.

The total G.C.C. market had an estimated USD 1.5 trillion
in Assets under Management (AuM). The average AuM of a wealthy
household was an estimated USD 1 million in the region. It is
well above the global average of about USD 400,000 for wealthy
households.

The region shows signs of continued economic growth and
diversification and GCC Government have upheld their efforts
to expand economies beyond oil.

The Boston Consulting Group report said Middle East and
Africa (M.E.A.), and Latin America were the smallest wealth
markets with AuM of USD 3.4 trillion and USD 3.1 trillion
respectively. In the Middle East and Africa, nearly 28 percent
of wealth were held offshore.

The report found that personal wealth around the world
grew five percent to USD 109.5 trillion, expanding
consecutively for the sixth year. Personal wealth is also
increasingly concentrated among the richest, the report found.

The top one percent of all households owned 35 percent
of the world's wealth last year. PTI CORR