How Wealth Management Around the World Has Changed Recently
The past few years have been rough on the global economy. First, most countries dealt with a market crash and now, the market is recovering slowly but surely. The outlook is positive, as most countries have seen a growth in GDP. In particular, private wealth has grown remarkably well in the past few years. Many countries experienced double-digit growth in this sector. The market crash didn’t just affect smaller companies, but also large international ones like J.P. Morgan global wealth management and many others. Investing has been responsible for much of the growth in private wealth. This has allowed many new online brokerages to enter the market and compete for a share of the wealth management.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is largely dominated by Russia both in mass and growth. In 2014, Russia’s private financial growth equaled 25%, which accounted for 71% of the area’s entire private wealth. Russia’s GDP grew by 8% with bond returns equaling 31%. Overall, Eastern Europe experienced a 19% increase in private fortunes. Poland, Slovakia, Hungry, and the Czech Republic had single digit growth of 8% or less. The entire region put a large part of its wealth in bonds as opposed to cash deposits or equity.
Western Europe
Western European countries did not fair as well as the eastern region. The West of Europe had 7% total growth in private wealth. Individually, some countries including Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.K. saw a double digit increases within their borders. In terms of macroeconomics, Western Europe had a relatively low performance and minimal growth in GDP. Countries with high private financial increases also had a high share of bonds.
North America
Private wealth in North America showed an increase of 6%, though the continent has two of the world’s wealthiest countries. The United States represents 28% of the world’s private wealth as of 2014. Individually, the United States is wealthier than Japan or China. Canada was ranked eighth. The equity market is responsible for the region’s increases in the private sector.
Latin America
Latin America showed double digit growth in 2014 with a strong 10% increase in private wealth. Mexico alone experienced 15% increases while Brazil and Colombia showed 10% percent growth. Latin America only accounts for 2% of the world’s private fortunes, but it covers 11% of the globe’s offshore wealth. The region’s growth dynamics were less uniform than other regions. The impact of low oil and commodity prices depended on the locale’s importing and exporting habits.
Asia-Pacific
Excluding Japan, private finances in the Asia-Pacific area experienced a steep 29% growth in 2014. The region has now surpassed both Western and Eastern Europe as the second largest originator of global private fortunes. Asia-Pacific growth heavily depended on the continued economic development of China and India. The positive market performance drove the value of existing assets up. Japan only experienced 2% growth.
Middle East and Africa
In the Middle East and Africa, private wealth expanded by 9% in 2014. Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran were responsible for the regions largest economic markets. Good savings rates in conjunction with continued GDP growth in oil-rich countries helped the region see the second-highest portion of new private wealth despite political instabilities.
Globally, private wealth grew by 12 percent in 2014. As a result J.P. Morgan global wealth management firms and the like have seen stocks and bonds grow considerably. Overall, the global private wealth market has greatly recovered from the recent recession. This sector of the international economy is experiencing intense expansion all over the world. It will take more years to get back on track as the global economies ebb and flow, but private wealth is expanding for many of the world’s countries.
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