The UK is close to having one million millionaire households, more than any other country in Europe, new report reveals.
Some 961,000 households in 2015 had more than $1 million worth of assets, a 12 per cent rise on the year before, according to a Global Wealth report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
The UK has the fourth largest number of millionaires, above Switzerland, Germany and France, which have 519,000, 446,000 and 445,000 millionaire households respectively.
Worldwide the number of millionaire households grew by 6 per cent to 18.5 million, of which 8 million are in the US, 2.1 million are in China and 1.1 million are based in Japan.
Paul Nowak, deputy general of TUC, the body for British trade unions, that little is being done to change the status quo.
“It says much about current Britain, that at a time when millions are struggling to pay their rent or get a mortgage, others are paying for swimming pools and cinemas to be constructed in the basements of their homes in Chelsea,” Nowak told the Guardian.
The fastest growing group of millionaires are those with assets of between $20 million and $100 million, a category known to private bankers as ultra-high net worth individuals.
The report, aimed at wealth manager, looks at private financial wealth which includes cash and deposits, life insurance payments, mutual funds, listed and unlisted equities, debt securities and pension entitlement. It excludes property and luxury goods.
The BCG said that the wealthy continued to invest in offshore centres despite tighter regulations with $10 trillion of assets held overseas in 2015, a rise of 3 per cent compared to the year before.
The UK was among the top three source of offshore wealth along with China and the US, as rich Britons held 6 per cent of their wealth abroad.
“Although regulatory measures aimed at fighting tax evasion will continue to persuade some old-world investors to repatriate their wealth, regulation also stabilizes the market and provides new opportunities to move fully-taxed wealth offshore in search of better service quality, product diversity, economic stability, and the like,” said Anna Zakrzewski, a BCG partner and a co-author of the report.
In the UK, total private wealth grew by 3.6 per cent to $9.3 trillion.
This compares to an overall growth of 4.3 per cent in Western Europe, a slower rate than in 2014.
A vote to leave the EU in this month’s referendum and an economic slowdown in China could continue to slowdown private wealth growth.
“Regional wealth [in western Europe] growth is expected to continue at rates similar to those in recent years, although this expansion could be held back by the low interest-rate environment and the potential exit of Great Britain from the European Union.
“Further pressure could come from economic slowdowns in countries outside the region, such as China, in which western European nations have high investment stakes,” BCG said in the report.
Country ranking by millionaire households 2015
USA - 8 million
China - 2.1 million
Japan - 1.1 million
UK - 961,000
Switzerland - 519,000
Germany - 446,000
France - 445,000
Canada - 440,000
Italy - 354,000
Taiwan - 324,000
Australia - 230,000
Hong Kong - 223,000
Netherlands - 222,000
Saudia Arabia - 214,000
Belgium - 202,000
