World wealth down 12%, fewer millionaires: study

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.

See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version