Wealth grows fastest in Australia
The past five years have represented a boon for Australian wealth, with new research revealing that personal wealth in this country grew faster than in any other mature market in the five years to 2007.
The research, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), revealed that Australia topped the list of mature markets for the second year in a row, with wealth growing at an average rate of 12 per cent between 2002 and 2007 to $2.5 trillion.
Australia’s wealth growth was followed by Sweden with 11.2 per cent and Israel with 9.9 per cent.
Commenting on the findings, the leader of BCG’s financial services practice in Australia, Matthew Rogozinski, said Australia’s strong performance was a reflection of the savings and investment benefits of the compulsory superannuation system.
“The system forces a large volume of savings, of which a large component has been allocated into growth assets,” he said. “This structure, combined with the strong performance of the local equities market, made Australia once again the leading mature market for growth in the latest global survey.”
BCG research also ranked Australia sixth amongst all markets for exposure to equities, with 47.5 per cent of assets under management invested in shares, with only Sweden (63.4 per cent), the UK (57.4 per cent), Netherlands (54.8 per cent), Canada (52.4 per cent) and Singapore (48.7 per cent) having higher exposures.
Rogozinski said that while the financial crisis had cast a pall over markets, the outlook for Australia remained positive, with BCG expecting wealth to increase in the order of 10 per cent a year over the medium term.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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