World wealth down 12%, fewer millionaires: study
NEW YORK. September 15. KAZINFORM The 2008 global recession caused the first worldwide contraction in assets under management in nearly a decade, according to a study that found wealth dropped 11.7 percent to $92.4 trillion; Kazinform refers to China Daily.
A return to 2007 levels of wealth will take six years, according to a Boston Consulting Group study that examined assets overseen by the asset management industry.
North America, particularly the United States, was the hardest hit region, reporting a 21.8 percent decline in wealth firms' assets under management to $29.3 trillion, primarily because of the beating US equities investments took in 2008.
Also hit hard were off-shore wealth centers, like Switzerland and the Caribbean, where assets declined to $6.7 trillion in 2008 from $7.3 trillion in 2007, an 8 percent drop.
The downturn has "shattered confidence in a way we have not seen in a long time," said Bruce Holley, senior partner and managing director at BCG's New York office; Kazinform cites China Daily.
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