Private banking: Latin American wealth in context

Euromoney Limited, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 15236090

4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Euromoney Limited 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Private banking: Latin American wealth in context

Latin America and the Caribbean have 10% of the world’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals and 4% of high-net-worth individuals, according to the latest Merrill Lynch/Cap Gemini World wealth report.

Private banking: Quality begins at home

In total, the region has 400,000 high-net-worth people (defined as those with at least $1 million in financial assets, excluding collectables, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences). It has 10,200 ultra-high-net worth individuals (those with at least $30 million in financial assets). In comparison, North America has 3.3 million high-net-worth individuals and 41,200 with ultra high net worth, and Asia-Pacific has 2.8 million high-net-worth individuals and 20,400 with ultra high net worth.

However, the number of high-net-worth individuals in the region does not do justice to the absolute size of the market in Latin America: the total assets held by the wealthy and ultra-wealthy in the region amount to $6.2 trillion, compared with $11.7 trillion held by their counterparts in North America and $9.5 trillion by those in Asia-Pacific. Surprisingly, Latin America’s wealth market is more than three and half times the size of the Middle East’s ($1.7 billion), although the report projects that the Gulf region will have the fastest-growing wealth market during the next four years (up by 15.3%). It predicts that Latin America will have the second-fastest-growing market (up 10.8%) while Europe’s will expand by only 4.9%

Gift this article