The global gross financial assets of private households has grown at its highest rate since 2003, according to the latest Allianz wealth report.
The 123-page Global Wealth Report 2014 revealed a 9.9 per cent growth in gross private financial assets in 2013, which brought the total global financial assets up to a new record level of €118tn (£92.6tn).
The report looks at the asset and debt situations of private households in more than 50 countries. According to the report, growth was driven by the exceptional stock market performance witnessed in Japan, the US and Europe: assets held as securities gained 16.5 per cent – higher than in the years before the 2007 financial crisis.
This, the report stated, was not testimony to a sudden rediscovered passion for equities among savers.
The US was the only region where a substantial volume of fresh funds was pumped into shares or other securities. Europeans had continued to pull their money out of this asset class.
“For many savers, especially in Europe, bank deposits are still the investment of choice, and long-term investments, including equities, are still being avoided,” Allianz chief executive Michael Diekmann said in the report’s preface.
Adviser View
Ray Tammam, financial adviser at Manchester-based Fairstone Financial Management, said: “This is all very positive, and there have been genuine signs that the economy has improved. Investment portfolios have also done well in the past 12 months, and house prices have improved, so people are wealthier and happier.”
