World's rich grow richer as bull markets roar on: study
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[June 15, 2018]
ZURICH (Reuters) - The pool of money
held by the world's wealthiest people grew by 12 percent last year to
nearly $202 trillion as bull markets and the dollar's weakening against
most major currencies boosted global fortunes, an international advisory
firm's study released on Thursday said.
Adjusted for exchange rate swings, wealth rose 7 percent, the Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) survey found.
While residents of North America held the greatest share of personal
wealth at almost 43 percent, the fastest growth came in Asia, Latin
America and the Middle East. Most super-rich individuals lived in the
United States, China and Japan.
The business of providing advice to those super-rich is still strong in
North America.
However, legacy retail brokerages such as Morgan Stanley <MS.N>, Bank of
America Merrill Lynch Wealth Management <BAC.N>, UBS AG Group's Wealth
Management in the Americas <UBSG.S> and Wells Fargo Advisors <WFC.N>
lost market share as less wealthy clients went elsewhere.

Legacy brokerages' market share fell to 37 percent in 2016 from 41
percent in 2012, while the portion held by direct channel firms such as
Charles Schwab <SCHW.K> and Fidelity grew modestly to 21 percent from 20
percent.
More than 35 million Americans now have between $250,000 and $1 million,
a wealth bracket the industry calls mass affluent. BCG senior partner
Brent Beardsley said that many mass affluent savers hold a lot of their
money in a retirement account, like a 401(k), which oftentimes are
managed by a company like Schwab or Fidelity.
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Tourists walk up one of the main shopping areas, Preciados Street,
in central Madrid, Spain, June 14, 2018. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

"(They have) a natural structural advantage" over legacy brokerages, Beardsley
said.
BCG's annual study also showed Switzerland remained the world's biggest center
for managing offshore wealth with $2.3 trillion, followed by Hong Kong with $1.1
trillion and Singapore with $0.9 trillion.
The two Asian centers have grown at yearly rates of 11 and 10 percent
respectively over the past five years, more than three times the 3 percent rate
Switzerland has posted.
It is in the fast-growing markets that large wealth managers including Swiss
banks UBS and Credit Suisse <CSGN.S> are casting wider nets.
The Swiss banking secrecy from which they long profited has been weakened,
meaning rich people from around the world can no longer easily use the Alpine
Republic to stash wealth away from tax authorities at home.
The changes have put Switzerland in fierce competition with faster-growing
centers like Hong Kong and Singapore.
(Reporting by Angelika Gruber and Elizabeth Dilts, Writing by Michael Shields;
Editing by Toby Chopra and Grant McCool)
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