Number of HNI millionaires decrease by 15 percent
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 26 June 2009, 23:08 IST   |    1 Comments
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Number of HNI millionaires decrease by 15 percent
Bangalore: The number of High Networth Individuals (HNIs) has decreased by 15 percent, falling to 8.6 million worldwide. This three year low in 2008 figures has occurred due to financial crunch, wiping out years of lucrative investment, and has shrunk the ranks of the very richest by a quarter, said a joint study by investment group Merrill Lynch and French consultancy Capgemini. Also, other ranks of ultra- HNIs, whose investable assets are of $30 million (21 million Euros) or more, have fallen by 25 percent. "The unprecedented declines wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007, reducing both the HNI population and its wealth to below levels seen at the close of 2005," the report said. "World equity markets lost a decade of gains, and volatility reached record levels. Our 2008 findings show HNIs began to lose trust in the markets, regulators, and, in some cases, their financial advisory firms," said the joint report by the companies. "It was the most well-off people that were the most affected by this decline," said Martina Weimert, Associate Director, Capgemini, France. U.S., Japan and Germany constituted more than half of the world's millionaires. China had the fourth biggest headcount of millionaires overtaking Britain. The total wealth of people in the HNI category,- those with a million or more dollars' worth of investable assets,- declined by a fifth to $32.8 trillion in 2008, down from $40.7 trillion in the previous year.

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