In 2009, more than 132,710 households in Australia are millionaires, according to a Boston Consulting Group survey. In 2010, personal wealth fell in spite the mining resources boom.

BCG's eleventh annual Global Wealth Report, released June, shows wealth in Australia increased by only 5.0 percent to $US2.34 trillion in 2010, compared to the global average increase of 8.0 percent.

Australia was outpaced by every other region except Western Europe (up 4.8 percent). Wealth grew fastest in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), at a rate of 17.1 percent, followed by North America (up 10.2 percent). In the Middle East and Africa, growth was slightly above the global average, at 8.6 percent, while in Latin America, wealth grew by 8.2 percent.

The leader of BCG's financial services practice in Australia, Matthew Rogozinski, said Australia lagged behind in 2010 following a sharp rebound the previous year.

"Australia outpaced all but a handful of developed countries in the previous year thanks to a large rise in our equity market. Australians have a relatively high exposure to equities through superannuation and direct investment, which means our wealth trends largely follow the performance of the local sharemarket." With share prices flat through 2010, it follows that growth in personal wealth would be more subdued in the latest survey.

Mr. Rogozinski said "Australians still enjoyed a better-than-average increase in wealth over the past five years, despite the subdued growth in 2010.

"Our rapid growth in wealth ahead of the GFC, and the strong rebound last year, means Australia is still significantly ahead of North America, Europe and Japan over the past five years."

"Australians also enjoyed a rise in wealth relative to the rest of the world thanks to the appreciating Australian dollar. This is not reflected in the survey numbers, which are reported in constant year-end-2010 exchange rates for all years."

The latest BCG Global Wealth Report shows an increasing concentration of wealth in Australia, with a sharp rise in the number of millionaire households in 2010 compared to the previous year.

17th in millionaire households

The number of millionaire households increased from 98,000 to 133,000. Australia ranked 17th by country in terms of number of millionaire households, unchanged from the previousyear. The U.S. topped the list with 5.22 million millionaire households, followed by Japan (1.53 million) and China (1.11 million).

The survey said that households with at least $1 million each jumped 31 percent to 1.11 million in 2010 from the previous year.
Millionaire households represented just 0.9 percent of all households but owned 39 percent of global wealth, up from 37 percent in 2009. The proportion of wealth owned by millionaire households increased the most in Asia-Pacific, at 2.9 percentage points, followed by North America, at 1.3 percentage points.

The United States had by far the most millionaire households (5.2 million), followed by Japan (1.5 million), China (1.1 million), the United Kingdom (570,000), and Germany (400,000).

Singapore continued to have the highest concentration of millionaire households, with 15.5 percent of all households having at least $1 million. Singapore had the fastest-growing number of millionaire households, with 170,000-up nearly a third from 2009. Switzerland had the highest concentration of millionaire households in Europe and the second-highest overall, at 9.9 percent.

Three of the six densest millionaire populations were in the Middle East-in Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
Number of millionaire households by country:

Rank Country 2009 2010

---- ------- ---- ----

1 USA 4,754,357 5,215,482

2 Japan 1,240,614 1,528,469

3 China 848,094 1,114,664

4 UK 530,525 569,130

5 Germany 386,096 400,224

6 Switzerland 279,491 333,721

7 Taiwan 245,271 276,671

8 Italy 293,653 270,489

9 France 224,053 209,091

10 Hong Kong 187,688 204,503

11 India 160,193 193,833

12 Canada 148,036 176,812

13 Singapore 125,716 167,448

14 Netherlands 162,963 165,853

15 Spain 152,979 156,244

16 Belgium 143,945 140,802

17 Australia 97,798 132,710

18 South Korea 90,941 109,745

19 Saudi Arabia 86,056 92,844

20 Brazil 81,164 90,271

14th in super-wealthy tally

BCG this year released data for the first time on the number of ultra high net worth households (with personal wealth of more than $US100 million). Australia had 231 such households (previously 219) and ranked 14th by country.

The BCG report said that the United States had the largest number of these super-wealthy households (2,692), followed by Germany (839), Saudi Arabia (826) and United Kingdom (738). China experienced the fastest growth in the number of super-wealthy households, which jumped by more than 30 percent to 393, taking eight spot on the list.

Saudi Arabia had the highest concentration of UHNW households, measured per 100,000 households, at 18, followed by Switzerland (10), Hong Kong (9), Kuwait (8), and Austria (8).

Growing importance of ApeJ region

Mr. Rogozinski said the latest Global Wealth Report highlighted the growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region for private banks.
"The Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, is the world's fastest growing wealth market and we expect this trend to continue over the next five years. The region's share of global wealth is forecast to rise from 18% in 2010 to 23% by 2015.

"This represents an unprecedented opportunity for Australian-based fund managers and private banks."

To gauge the performance of private banks and fund managers, BCG gathered benchmarking data from 120 wealth-management institutions worldwide. The survey revealed wide variations in margins, cost ratios, and AuM growth across and within regions.

China, the world's fastest growing economy

According to the report, private wealth grew at more than double the global average in Asia-Pacific (ex Japan) in 2010, propelled by the region's vibrant economies. The two most prominent of those - China and India - had exceptional growth in AuM at 29.0 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively.

China already has more than a million millionaires due to the country's economic growth and strengthening currency. The number of millionaires is up by 262,000 from 2009. China already has the third most millionaires, trailing only the U.S. and Japan.