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According to Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, there are 2.8 million people in Asia with total assets of more than $1 million. Those people had a combined wealth of $9.5 trillion at the end of 2007, a 12.5% jump from the previous year, which was higher than a global expansion rate of 9.4%.

In the past five years, private banks in Asia, excluding Japan, tripled assets under management to $600 billion, according to Calamander Group, a consultancy in Singapore. UBS, Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC, Credit Suisse Group and Merrill Lynch together accounted for more than half of the total. - 2008 November 21 WALL ST. JOURNAL

By end 2007, Asia-Pacific millionaires, whose financial assets exceed US$1 million, increased 8.7 percent and their wealth grew 12.5 percent to US$9.5 trillion.

The number of Hong Kong millionaires rose 10.2 percent. Their average wealth amounted to US$5.4 million, making them the region's richest. They put a third of their assets into equities and 23 percent into real estate investments.

Asia-Pacific millionaires in general invested 26 percent of their wealth in stocks and 13 percent in property. - 2008 September 26 THE STANDARD

Over the past five years, the major private banks in Asia have tripled assets under management from US$200 billion to US$600 billion today, according to managing director of Calamander Capital, a Singapore-based investment and advisory firm. - 2008 March 25

Top bankers: why so few women?
Some areas of banking seem more suited to females than others

The general traits for success in top female bankers are passion, ambition, excellent communication skills, strong discipline, and the drive to achieve them, going by extensive interviews with 19 top female bankers here [in Singapore].

Both genders can possess the above traits. Why then are there fewer women in investment banking than in private banking?

Stuck to the Blackberry, getting just four hours of sleep daily . . . with intense demands on their time, the life of the investment banker requires male-like traits of being unemotional, aggressiveness in fighting for deals, and a left-brain dominance.

Conversely, private banking requires skills more commonly associated with women such as being a good listener and empathising with people. Oey Bie Lan, managing director at an international private bank, sums it up thus: 'Private banking needs a personal touch - the ability to build deeper, interpersonal relationships even with the second and third generations of the clients' families.'

Female bankers want to be career women, 'home affairs ministers' and fulfil their interests all at the same time. These different roles, fighting for a share of the same 24 hours, bring about the split-allegiance challenge that many women face as they scale the corporate ladder. Since there's less time for networking, the reduced social capital can be an impediment to their career advancement.

So is travelling, as men are more likely to be selected for long-term overseas assignments because they can mobilise their families more easily than women. This, as suggested by a private banker, may also be the reason why there are so few top women CEOs as a 'CEO of a bank needs to have experience in various parts of banking and great overseas exposure'.

Women are also not as aggressive when asking for rewards, such as promotions and bonuses, or taking credit for work done. This can be attributed to two reasons: societal perceptions that self-promoting behaviour in a woman signals a lack of modesty; and not wanting the added responsibility that comes with promotions, due to the fear of having less time for the family and loneliness at the top.

Fortunately for women here, Singapore's society advocates meritocracy. Hence, gender stereotypes and discrimination which impede women's career advancement are less prevalent in Singapore than in Japan and Korea. Additionally, Singapore's society is more accepting of women taking up flexi-work schemes.

Singapore's infrastructure has also made career progression easier. Due to the country's small geographical size and existence of close-knit extended families, support for the working woman is abundant. Parents are often more than happy to take care of grandchildren. Domestic help, in the form of maids and tutors, is also readily available.

Emotional support from role models and mentors is also important for the working woman. Female mentors, with greater experience, will be able to advise on problems commonly faced by the bankers.

It is especially critical to manage the expectations of the spouse and children. A banker in senior management described how she sets expectations: 'When there are conference calls at night, I would inform my family beforehand that I need to focus on the calls, and get them to understand.'

Institutional support can come from banks through the implementation of flexi-work schemes for less client-intensive roles, as well as external alliances, such as the Financial Women's Association. Founder Tan Su-Shan revealed that she set it up as 'a support system to help women rise through the ranks'.

For most men, success is defined by their careers. For women, however, they have many choices. As a corporate banker remarked: 'Women's status in life and definition of success can take many forms: fulfilment as good mothers and of their interests. They are not restricted to work.'

She can find her own niche to sustain her passion. Understanding her passion, the female banker must then have the right attitude - prioritising her many commitments, deciding what to sacrifice, and being open to opportunities. Complementing the right attitude, female bankers should have the right behaviour of not being shy to ask for things, be it work-related rewards or help from family members.

To maximise human capital from the female gender, banks can be more forthcoming about institutionalising flexi-work schemes, establish mentorship programmes, and be open to and celebrate different models of success in the workplace.

Kate Hu, Koh Woon Teng and Loh Hui Shan were final-year graduating students of the Nanyang Business School when they wrote this article. Dr Fock Siew Tong is the school's associate dean (external relations) and associate professor of banking & finance at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. He was their faculty supervisor for this research. - Published 2008 October 13 BUSINESS TIMES

The global citizen is a group that has multiplied fast with a reported 4.7 million expatriates living in Asia-Pacific. In particular, wealthy families are increasingly global families.

According to the Capgemini Report (2006), at least 28 per cent of the ultra high net worth (at least US$30 million in assets) have residences in multiple countries, and some 37 per cent have offshore financial accounts, others have to handle cross-border businesses in different locales and family members living further and further apart.

While it is a perception that only the high net worth or ultra high net worth have a need for a specialised and globally oriented wealth management plan and service, increasingly more people are becoming global citizens by virtue of their choice to take up a new job, take up multiple citizenships or accumulate family ties.

Global employment and expatriate situations are becoming commonplace. Deciding to take an overseas job is a complex decision for an individual, one that involves a number of decisions that will impact the family as well. It means having to uproot one's family from their comfort zone and to consider both career and personal implications.

Other than the personal considerations, one's banking and investment needs will undoubtedly evolve. It becomes necessary for one to navigate the complexities of managing wealth across borders. The management of one's wealth will take on a new dimension and might even require a host of international financial connections to ensure that the different financial portfolios are aligned.

The global citizen has diverse banking and investments requirements, including the need to access their funds in multiple locations. With increasingly easy access to information, their expectations of financial service providers are justifiably raised. People are increasingly looking to work with financial institutions which understand both their global perspective and their perceived 'home country' requirements.

The implications are that asset allocation models and investment products need to cater to both, and clients expect to have first-class transactional services as well. for instance, the global citizen will need remittances, Internet banking and access to banking accounts in their country of origin. and the high net worth global citizen expects a private bank to offer services, beyond products, that deliver the 'home country' requirements.

For instance, an Indian expatriate expects a bank to manage more than his domestic assets. Global Indians will need investment advice based on an understanding of their unique needs and goals, and more importantly, management of their wealth created worldwide. They want a seamless, full-scale onshore and offshore offering.

The Standard Chartered Private Bank's Global Indian programme addresses clients' needs through an ethnic lens rather than a geographic one, offering a global private bank financial service package. its private bankers are primarily global Indians themselves and have the specialist knowledge and understanding to appreciate the specific needs and aspirations of Indians. On the investment side, the global citizen is faced with the need to review his investment portfolio and wealth needs. Fundamentally, he would have to consider taking on a more diversified approach to investments. from experience, a global citizen's investment portfolio tends to be biased towards the home country, and needs to be adjusted in line with the changing life phase, adopting a global outlook. Some considerations:

In the last 15 months, we have gone from a period of 'greed' where investors really only thought of high returns to a period of 'fear' where the global economic environment remains challenging near term.

First, the credit crisis is likely to continue to be of concern for some time to come. Second, global equities are likely to trade volatile to weak whilst the credit market turmoil continues. Third, while inflation should moderate, it will remain relatively high in emerging market economies.

It is in these uncertain times that investors need to stay the course through a balanced and diversified investment strategy, while taking advantage of the opportunities that might arise.

Are we nearing the end of the financial turmoil? Probably not. We expect the secondary impact to slow economic growth. Lower housing prices, lower share prices, slower economic growth and heightened job insecurity should contribute to the consumer spending less in the future. Expected corporate earnings haven't priced in the global slowdown. In the short term (three months), the bank's asset allocation is overweight cash, neutral on bonds and underweight equities. There are still downside risks to equities and volatility will continue.

Stock markets have fallen sharply this year, soaking up a substantial amount of wealth. Consultants, however, remain optimistic that global wealth remains on an upward trajectory.

Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, for instance, expect the Asia Pacific wealth market to grow by nearly 8 per cent a year over the next five years. The Boston Consulting Group is even more optimistic, pegging the annual compounded growth rate at 11.4 per cent.

Even with a slower economy, some trends are clear: Wealth markets are getting more concentrated - that is, wealthy households own more than 80 per cent of global assets under management, says BCG. Portfolios of the wealthy also tend to be well cushioned by cash and hedging strategies that stand a better chance of preserving value.

One bright spot is that of 'passion' investments, as highlighted by Merrill and Capgemini in their annual report. Such investments include art, luxury cars, yachts and sports teams.

Last year, luxury collectibles and fine art each accounted for roughly 16 per cent of the global demand. Jewellery held third spot with a 13.8 per cent share and luxury travel 13.5 per cent.

The Forbes' Cost of Living Extremely Well Index (CLEWI), which tracks the cost of a basket of luxury goods, rose 6.2 per cent from 2006 to 2007, more than double the inflation rate, as cited in the Merrill and Capgemini report. Despite the significant price increases, the report says luxury segments posted record sales figures last year.

Among the Asian wealthy, jewellery, gems and watches were their favourite, accounting for 19 per cent of the passion dollar. This was followed by luxury consumables, wellness and collectibles.

Yet another hard asset dear to Asians is property. In Singapore, in defiance of generally softer prices, all 30 private preview units of SC Global's apartments in Martin Road were snapped up. A unit at The Sail @ Marina Bay was also recently sold for over $15 million.

But what of the future? Certainly some segments will begin to feel the pinch of a slower global economy. But the ultra high net worth segment may well remain resilient. - 2008 September 26 BUSINESS TIMES

The rich and super rich will increase their share of the world's wealth when markets eventually turn upwards.

So-called high net worth individuals (HNWIs), especially in Asia, have been building up their cash reserves. The potential flow into global markets is enormous. The wealth of the world's HNWIs increased by 9.4 per cent to US$40.7 trillion in 2007, according to Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

The latest World Wealth Report estimated that the number of HNWIs with financial assets of US$1 million or more has reached 10.1 million, with average holdings of US$4 million.

There are now 103,300 ultra high net worth individuals with financial assets of US$30 million or more, the report said. Since much of their wealth is hidden in offshore accounts, this is likely to be an underestimate.

Due to a slide in the value of assets, notably stocks, property and hedge funds, the wealth of these HNWIs has declined in 2008. Despite this, they still have huge resources that will move back into global markets as soon as there are signs of a potential revival.

The poor performance of global markets, mutual funds, hedge funds and banks has made wealthy investors much more cautious. After betting heavily on riskier assets in 2006 and the first half of 2007, HNWIs began to retrench in the second half of 2007 and shifted their investments to safer, less- volatile assets. By the year's end, HNWIs were moving into cash/deposits and fixed-income securities. HNWI investors in Asia and Europe, for example, set aside 25 per cent and 21 per cent in cash and money market deposits.

According to the report, there are 2.8 million HNWIs in the Asia-Pacific region and 20,400 super rich with US$30 million or more. So what are these people doing with their money?

HNWIs tend to invest in local stocks and bonds rather than foreign ones since they prefer to put their money in things they are familiar with.

They have trimmed their allocations to alternative investments from 20 per cent of their financial assets in 2005 to 10 per cent in 2006, falling further to 9 per cent in 2007.

Globally, hedge funds represented the largest portion, that is, over 30 per cent of HNWIs' alternative investments. But during the course of 2007, HNWIs grew more distrustful of hedge funds as the credit crunch intensified, the report said. They raised investments in sovereign bonds and other AAA fixed-income securities which accounted for 27 per cent of their assets in 2007, up from 21 per cent a year earlier. - 2008 July 7 THE BUSINESS TIMES

Rich in China stashing their fortunes abroad
8% of country's wealth is offshore and proportion set to rise: consultants

Around 8 per cent of China's US$2.5 trillion wealth is parked offshore and the share is rising as the country's economy opens up, boosting business for private banks in Hong Kong and Singapore, consultants said yesterday.

The Boston Consulting Group said that the Greater China region - comprising China, Hong Kong and Taiwan - is now home to 45 per cent of the total US$10.6 trillion of wealth in Asia excluding Japan.

'There is a substantial portion of money that is already sitting offshore,' Tjun Tang, a Hong Kong-based partner of the group, told reporters.

The wealth in the Greater China region is forecast to grow to US$8.6 trillion by 2011, the consultancy group said in its Wealth Markets in China report.

The data includes the wealth of millionaires and a larger group of affluent people although the report said that wealth was highly concentrated. Less than one per cent of households hold more than two-thirds of China's personal wealth.

'In the near-term we are certainly estimating that the offshore component is rising for Chinese money,' Mr Tang said.

He added that most relationship managers for China are based in Hong Kong, given the proximity to the mainland.

Ranu Dayal, a Singapore-based partner for the group, said that Singapore also plays a role in product development even if relationships are managed in Hong Kong.

China's growing pool of millionaires have been monetising their assets by listing companies in Hong Kong and Singapore, creating opportunities for global private banks, such as UBS and Citigroup, to grab clients.

In Singapore, there are over 100 Chinese companies listed on the stock exchange including firms such as property developer Yanlord Land which has a market value of US$5 billion.

Mr Tang said the millionaires are parking more wealth offshore because of their ability to list companies abroad and move assets, compared to the mass affluents who face tighter regulation.

China will not match the level seen in Taiwan where 25 per cent of wealth is outside the country, but overall the net amount would increase as a strong economy boosts underlying wealth, Mr Tang said. -- 2007 November 1 Reuters

According to an annual report on global wealth compiled by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, the number of millionaires in China - with their wealth figured in U.S. dollars - increased to 320,000 in 2005, a 6.8% increase from the year before. Their average per capita holdings stood at $5 million, well above the global average of $3.8 million for people in the high net worth bracket, defined as those with more than $1 million in liquid assets. China's wealthy also outpaced their neighbors; per capita wealth stood at $4.7 million for Singapore's millionaires, and $2.7 million for Japan's. - 2007 May 22 INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Global private banks manage US$4.6t for super-rich
Asians estimated to hold more than 20% or US$1t of assets

The rich are becoming the mega-rich and the number of Asian multi-millionaires has increased substantially in the past year.

Global private banks, which cater for the super-wealthy, now manage in excess of US$4.6 trillion, according to a study by Scorpio Partnership, a London firm that specialises in wealth management.

The study doesn't break down the Asian proportion of this impressive sum. It describes Asian-based banks as cagey about disclosing managed assets of the super-rich.

Industry data show that Asia remains one of the largest and fastest growing markets for private banking, according to the bank. More than a quarter of the world�s 8.7 million high-net-worth individuals, who possess at least $1 million in net assets, are located in Asia.

For the next few years, private wealth in the region is expected to grow at an annualcompounded rate of 6.7% to reach $10.6 trillion by 2010, the Citigroup release notes.

The bank claims it has more than 6,000 high-net-worth individuals (at least $10 million in net worth) as its clients, including half of non-Japan Asia�s billionaires.

�Asia is, and will remain, a key market for The Citigroup Private Bank, accounting for 29% of the private bank�s global revenue and 34% of net earnings in 2006�. They also notes the �promising outlook for many of the region�s economies and the unabated rates of wealth creation�. - 29 March 2007

Anyone superstitious - or merely curious - enough to flick through this year's Chinese Astrology predictions for The Fate of Hong Kong might puzzle at the love or health forecasts. But on the subject of money, the words have a familiar ring: 'The Wealth House is perhaps the best among the twelve houses. Hong Kong is financially sound and remains the goose continuing to lay golden eggs," it reads.

For those whose property interests plunged by 55% in the wake of the 1997 Asian crisis, or whose shareholdings crashed through the floor, this might sound like wishful thinking. Yet a surprise 0.5% second-quarter GDP growth rise, following several quarters of contraction, demonstrated a re-emergence of confidence in the territory.

Private bankers in Hong Kong back up the figures: "We've seen a strong recovery in the local market," says Nigel Jeacock-Fewtrell, director of the private clients group at Lloyds TSB Pacific. "Customers are prepared to move out of cash and into more adventurous investments such as property and equity."

Hong Kong's turnaround is proving more gradual than some of its Asian neighbours: Singapore posted a 6.7% second quarter GDP rise, South Korea 9.8% and Taiwan 6.1%, but the signs are generally positive, as property prices stabilise, exports increase thanks to a crackdown on smuggling from China and tourism regains ground.

A slew of private bankers are pacing eagerly through their air-conditioned corridors, keen to sign up customers with at least the magic figure of $1 million available to place on deposit. Once this figure is reached, the banks lay on a plethora of services, ranging from 24 hour phone access to platinum cards and leveraged foreign exchange investment facilities.

Competition between banks is tough and getting tougher. A number of mergers and acquisitions have taken place in recent months, including the sale of Bank of America's Asian and European private banking business to Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) AG in March this year. "There are around 70 players in the market," comments Raoul Weil, head of private banking at UBS, "and there is not profit enough for all of them. There are a lot of clients but too many competitors. You can assume that not all will stay in the market."

Mr. Weil blames the high labour and infrastructure costs of operating in Hong Kong for the present squeeze, along with unrealistic expectations. "People thought they would outgrow their start-up problems, but they haven't grown quickly enough to make things happen. Some of the players were betting on 20 or 30% growth per year, which was conceivable pre-crisis." For UBS, the upside is a 'flight to quality'. Even though the market has shrunk, the company is gaining clients who are concerned about smaller, less well-capitalised companies. Recent figures in the International Herald Tribune showed the UBS private banking arm having 607 billion Swiss francs ($404.6 billion) under management and contributing 4.3 billion Swiss francs in pre-tax profits.

Private banking in Asia as a whole (including Japan) is thought to account for around 30% of the world market, despite the 1997 crisis. So there is little prospect of operations such as UBS leaving it behind. Indeed, Mr. Weil is bullish on the bank's future strategy: "We're investing in private banking, so we're very much open to opportunities," he says, referring to potential acquisitions. Citibank, which pioneered Internet banking in the region, Lloyds TSB, Coutts & Co and others are all surveying the scene.

The same ambitions apply to ABN Amro, the Dutch bank which has operated a private banking service in the region for more than 15 years. The bank's regional head of private banking for Asia Pacific Urs Brutsch, based in Singapore, is keen to expand his customer base in Hong Kong. The entire group's rising stock will clearly be an assistance - ABN announced a profits growth of 29.7% this summer - although Mr. Brutsch recognises that it is a crowded market. "There will be very fierce competition going forward. Some locals will disappear because they don't have the muscle or the critical mass. We'll probably see ten or twelve global players within the next ten years" he says. "But we don't want to compete on price but on relationships. The quality of service is what matters in this business: the role of relationship manager makes or breaks a private bank."

Away from finance, clouds of uncertainty persist in the region's political sky. While the concept of 'one nation, two systems' has largely been honoured by China, the country's government has taken unexpected and severe measures when it feels itself threatened. "There is an underlying concern over possible legislation or directives from the mainland," says Nigel Jeacock-Fewtrell at Lloyds TSB Pacific, "but generally there is complete harmony. Hong Kong is the goose that lays the golden eggs from the mainland's point of view," he added, echoing the Astrologer's phrase.

Taiwan, on the other hand, presents other, more alarming scenarios. Hong Kong's papers have been full of stories this summer about military build-ups by both China and Taiwan. "It has been a show of military strength. Relations are hostile and could deteriorate at any time," says Mr. Jeacock-Fewtrell. "We wouldn't get involved but there could be an impact on Hong Kong." Such fears of Chinese aggression persuaded many Hong Kong investors to place their money elsewhere and a thriving off-shore investment network has its base in the territory, with links to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and elsewhere.

The hand-over of Hong Kong to China in 1997 was itself an event which impacted on Taiwan. Taiwanese investors had traditionally put funds into Hong Kong, yet now that the territory is in the hands of the enemy, so to speak, there has been a drain of capital out of Hong Kong and into alternative locations, principally Singapore. On the other hand, Singapore used to benefit from Malaysian and Indonesian private investment, but changes in regulations and currency restrictions has caused this to ebb.

In Hong Kong it is not regulations or restrictions which have kept the recovery low key, but relatively high interest rates, now standing at 14%, alongside mild deflation, expected to be 3% this year, which has kept wages virtually static and depressed consumer spending. The only significant piece of intervention from the post-handover Hong Kong government came last summer, when it unexpectedly bought a large amount of stock on the local market, pushing up prices and embarrassing speculators who had been profiting from short sales of stock, which fell due to the Hong Kong dollar being pegged against the U.S. dollar. Capital outflows caused higher interest rates and an economic slowdown, hitting share prices.

This was a fairly sophisticated slap on the wrist to a section of the financial community and certainly well short of tanks rolling across from the mainland and curfews after midnight. In fact, while local observers confidently expect a shake-down in the Hong Kong banking sector, there are many reasons to trust that the industry is in robust shape. Of the 100 largest banks in the world, 79 have a presence there and it ranks 8th in volume of external transactions and 7th in foreign exchange. While the private banking sector is - like the rest of the economy - taking time to recover its full sheen, there is no doubt that its eggs are incubating nicely. And they're still golden.

"Certain clients have forgotten what happened in 1997," says Urs Brutsch, ABN Amro's Asia Pacific head of private banking. He has seen them going back into the same investment patterns as before, piling everything into property, or into one particular industry. "We recommend diversification," says Mr Brutsch, using the mantra of the modern private banker. "They should think global."

But will the young ever learn from the mistakes of their fathers, or even from their own mistakes? In Hong Kong, the urge to get rich at the drop of a hat is deeply ingrained. Fortunes have been won here since the days of the opium and spice traders and 1999 is no exception. Entrepreneurs have sprung up from the ashes of the Asian crisis, ready to stake their millions on the roulette wheel of internet stocks, of mainland Chinese start-up companies, or the international currency markets.

Some caution has been taken on board, however. Investments with capital guarantees, where the principle deposit is safeguarded, but profits are variable, is gaining in popularity. Derivatives, index-linked funds, funds of funds and the various financial instruments at the banker's disposal are also winning new friends in Hong Kong, according to those such as Mr. Brutsch who deal in them. This, despite the Long Term Capital Management fiasco in the US.

There have been subtle shifts in the make-up of the Hong Kong private banking clientele: ex-patriots are thinner on the ground, post-handover. "They were only ever a small part of the cake," says Mr. Brutsch, "the icing, you could say." They are being replaced by Asian customers, often people who own their own business and are planning for a prosperous retirement.

To attract them, banks host lavish and exclusive events, entertaining current clients but hoping to pull in their friends and associates. UBS might lay on a preview of antique jade jewellery; ABN Amro might invite its clients to an exhibition of Indian art. Sport sponsorship - cricket, racing or polo - is popular. More seriously, expert seminars on tax or trust funds are arranged.

Clients would typically include import-export directors, real estate company heads or partners in legal firms. With their $1 million-plus deposit, they gain access to the sanctuary of the wealthy, a kind of Masonic Lodge for the 1990s. Their tastes in financial instruments are certainly becoming more exotic. "In the last three or four months they have been more adventurous," says Raoul Weil, head of private banking at UBS. "Equity or regional investment was out of favour last year but now it's becoming en vogue."

Mainland Chinese immigrants rarely figure among the private banking clientele. Some attribute this to a lack of sophistication, since banking systems in China are far behind those of Hong Kong. Others have a different explanation. "Mainland Chinese is a very touchy issue because of compliance," explains Mr. Brutsch at ABN Amro. "You have to do very detailed due diligence on clients. Everyone is more aware of money laundering now, as you can see from the Russian experience recently. You have to be careful not to attract money you don't want. There are a lot of funny people running around Asia," he adds.

At the most conservative end of the scale are British bankers such as Nigel Jeacock-Fewtrell, director of the private clients group at Lloyds TSB Pacific. His customer base includes many Asians who have been educated in England, opened a bank account with Lloyds, and then developed the relationship further on their return to the east. "They know we won't be chucking their money around," he says. "We're not trying to be the highest performer, but balancing risk and performance to give a robust medium- to long-term return. We're a typical British bank."

Singapore's number of US dollar millionaires is rising faster than in any other Asian nation, according to Merrill Lynch & Co and Capgemini.

Singapore's economy grew at the quickest pace in two years in the second quarter, and will probably expand faster than estimated this year, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The central bank has forecast the economy will grow 7.5 per cent this year.

Gross domestic product in Singapore expanded an annualised 14.4 per cent in the three months ended June, up from a revised 8.8 per cent pace in the first quarter, Singapore's trade ministry said last month. -- Bloomberg 2007 September 11

Singapore's four richest men - Ng Teng Fong, Kwek Leng Beng, Lee Seng Wee and Wee Cho Yaw - have held on to their spots in the Forbes 2006 Billionaires List. And Mittal Steel boss Lakshmi Mittal continues his reign as the richest man in Asia.

Other than Mr Mittal, the only Asian to make the top Forbes top 20 worldwide is Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, who jumped 12 places from 2005 to 10th position with US$18.8 billion. Singapore's Mr Ng came in 174th worldwide. And he took the top spot locally from Kwek Leng Beng, who was ranked Singapore's richest man last year.

Mr Kwek, who controls the Hong Leong Group, including City Developments and London-listed Millennium & Copthorne, came in second locally, with his wealth falling to US$3.6 billion this year, from US$4 billion in 2005.

Mr Ng, who also made his fortune in property, was worth US$2.6 billion last year. He runs the privately-held Far East Organization, which includes listed Yeo Hiap Seng, Orchard Parade Holdings and Hong Kong-based Sino Group. Singapore bankers Lee Seng Wee of OCBC and Wee Cho Yaw of United Overseas Bank are said by Forbes to be worth US$3 billion and US$2.4 billion respectively, giving them third and fourth place locally.

The Asia Pacific is home to 115 billionaires with a collective worth of US$364 billion. Japan has the most billionaires in the region at 27, although their net worth slid 11 per cent from 2005. India has 23 billionaires.

Meanwhile, the sleeping giant that is China twitched a little to increase its presence on the list from two to eight, led by Larry Rong Zhijian, head of the Citi Pacific conglomerate, with a fortune of US$1.7 billion.

Worldwide, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates remains the richest man for the 12th year running, with a personal fortune of US$50 billion. Investor Warren Buffett again ranked second, though his fortune fell US$2 billion to US$42 billion.

The total number of billionaires worldwide rose by 102 to a record 793 over the past year, and their combined wealth grew 18 per cent to US$2.6 trillion. - ASSOCIATED PRESS 11 March 2006

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Sebastian Dovey, managing partner at Scorpio, refers to recent research of Capgemini, the management consultants, and Merrill Lynch. They found that the Asian-Pacific region, including Japan, accounted for 25 per cent of 7.3 million individuals with financial assets of US$1 million or more around the world.

Two international banks, notably HSBC and Citigroup, disclosed detailed numbers. Both banks didn't forward high net worth individuals' wealth at the private banks.

Out of around 25,000 clients at Citigroup's private bank division, there are about 6,500 Asians who account for about a third of earnings of that division. Citigroup's private banking division is toying with the idea of raising the minimum investment to US$10 million from US$5 million.

At HSBC, high net worth individuals in Asia-Pacific contributed to about 29 per cent of the bank's private asset division last year. Banks in Singapore, South Korea and other parts of Asia were reticent, according to Scorpio. But HSBC noted that Asia's share of the profit was 29 per cent.

In terms of the value of investment holdings, the Asian proportion is 21 per cent. On this basis Asian clients or private clients hold more than 20 per cent or around US$1 trillion of the total individual assets controlled by private banks.

As a general rule, private banks look for customers with a minimum of US$1 million to invest, according to the study by Scorpio. But millionaires are not what they used to be. Today, there are numerous individuals around the world boasting assets of US$10 million to US$20 million. While smaller private banks are in intense global competition, larger ones such as Citicorp's private banking division are seeking minimum liquid assets of US$5 million and that will rise to US$10 million, according to Scorpio.

The study is based on a review of 120 institutions worldwide and includes the 2003 year-end results of over 50 private banks. The estimates come from an analysis of private bank financial statements and interviews by Scorpio.

On average, the total amount of money invested by private banks on behalf of their clients rose by 14.4 per cent during 2003. The survey indicates that the private banking business is growing by 15 per cent a year.

Much will depend on the performance of bonds, equities and alternative investments such as hedge funds, property portfolios, private equity funds and gold and other commodities. But if Scorpio is correct, private banking assets will soar over US$5 trillion next year. - By Neil Behrmann in London Singapore Business Times 28 May 2004

SINGAPORE : Private banking in Asia is expected to rake in revenue growth of 10 percent a year on average, according to a recent Pricewaterhouse Coppers survey.

Private banking is feeding on the immense wealth generated in this region, as well as wealth outside the region flowing here.

Henk R de Glint, Deputy Managing Director, MeesPierson, said: "I think indeed Asians are getting richer. It is globally estimated that around one-fifth of wealth is in Asia. And I think other things that are moving is money from the rest of the world to Asia especially to Singapore and Hong Kong. That is an indication that the industry is growing."

Patricia Enslow, Head of Marketing Communications, Citigroup Private Banking, said: "Industry forecast has indicated a growth rate of 10 percent in the region for private wealth management. We think the industry is more likely to grow 20-30 percent well into the foreseeable future. Our private banking business in the region has been growing at a 20-30 percent each year for the last 5 years. It is one of the fastest growing businesses in Citigroup."

Mr Henk R de Glint said: "We are looking globally for 300 people, so in Asia that will be quite a number as well. We have started our campaigns already and we continue to look for these people. We are looking to add to the workforce."

Ms Enslow said: "Just in Singapore alone, we have recruited 25 management associates."

The hiring got a boost recently when the Monetary Authority set aside S$2.5 million over two years for the Financial Sector Manpower Conversion Scheme to train people to switch into growth areas like private banking. - CNA YAHOO! 25 June 2004

Hong Kong will have 63 percent more millionaires by 2011, with their wealth growing faster than peers in Singapore, projected London-based business information provider Datamonitor.

The number of Hong Kong residents with more than $1 million of liquid assets in the city will increase to 83,000 from 51,000 last year, Datamonitor said in a statement. That represents an annual growth rate of 10 percent, according to Bloomberg calculation.

The assets they hold in Hong Kong will expand 11 percent a year to almost $250 billion by 2011, from last year's $150 billion, Datamonitor projected.

The number of millionaires in Singapore is forecast to grow 7.3 percent a year over the same period with the liquid assets they hold in the country projected to rise 7.5 percent annually, Datamonitor said.

Hong Kong is benefiting from low taxes, simple regulations and flexible labor market rules that have attracted global financial institutions to set up shop, boosting the city's financial industry, which contributes almost 90 percent of its economy, Datamonitor said.

``It is Hong Kong's open economy that has seen its financial services industry thrive,'' David Lalich, author of the report, said in the statement.

Hong Kong residents have also gained from the city's rising stock market since 2002, when there were about 31,000 millionaires, Datamonitor said. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index has tripled since the end of 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. - 2007 November 2 BLOOMBERG

Hong Kong Millionaires
The number of people with more than $1 million in liquid assets rose to more than 274,000 last year from about 260,000 in 2003, according to a Citibank survey - 24 Feb 2004 SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

26-year-old tops Forbes China Rich List
The female property developer grabs the No1 spot with US$16b

A 26-year-old female property developer tops this year's Forbes list of the richest people in China, grabbing the number one spot with a net worth of US$16 billion, the US magazine said yesterday. That amount also makes Yang Huiyan the richest woman in Asia, according to a statement from Forbes.

All 40 people on Forbes Asia's 2007 China Rich List are billionaires, compared with only 15 last year, it said, attributing the rise to a boom in the nation's stock and property markets.

Their combined net worth is US$120 billion, up more than three times from last year's US$38 billion, it said.

The list was published as China prepares for the opening next week of the 17th Congress of the Communist Party, where the growing gap between rich and poor is likely to be among the top agenda items.

The nation's rulers are concerned that the widening difference between the haves and have-nots could endanger social cohesion in the world's most populous nation.

Ms Yang, a graduate of Ohio State University, is the daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung, the co-founder of Country Garden Holdings, a property development firm.

Mr Yeung transferred his shareholdings to his daughter in 2005, and she now sits on the company's board as an executive director, Forbes said. Ms Yang is one of more than a dozen property developers to make this year's Rich List, reflecting roaring demand for homes and real estate investments, according to Forbes.

'Household incomes are rising rapidly, and a growing number of people are moving into cities from rural areas,' said list compiler Russell Flannery.

'Those trends are creating great business opportunity for property developers in the country.' The latest Forbes list had 20 newcomers including solar energy entrepreneur Peng Xiaofeng.

Last year's number one, Wong Kwong Yu, fell to No 10 even though his fortune increased by 56 per cent to US$3.6 billion, the statement said.

The list underlined that south China, where economic reform first took off more than two decades ago, remained the centre of gravity for the country's economic might.

South China's free-wheeling Guangdong province produced 13 billionaires, more than any other region, according to Forbes.

'Guangdong has been overshadowed of late because the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's growing international role have attracted a lot of attention,' Mr Flannery said in the statement.

'This list illustrates that southern China still has plenty of money and plenty of entrepreneurial zest.' - 2007 October 9 AFP

China now has 106 billionaires, seven times as many as last year, according to a list published Wednesday that underlined the rapidly growing economic muscle of the Asian giant.

Yang Huiyan, a 26-year-old female property developer, topped the list with a net worth, mostly inherited, of 130 billion yuan, according to the website of Hurun Report, a Shanghai-based magazine.

The figure was up from just 15 billionaires in the 2006 list, a surge attributed in the report to sizzling economic growth, and in particular a steep rise in stock and property prices.

"We all know that China is developing very rapidly. But the speed is so fast that it shocked all of us. It's much faster than the US and shed Europe" Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report's publisher, said in a statement.

The average wealth of the 800 people on Hurun's list is now 562 million dollars, an increase of 104 percent from 2006, and it takes 105 million dollars to make the list, the statement said.

This compared with the first list, nine years ago, which could only rank 50 people who each had six million dollars or more.

Among the people singled out by Hurun was 32-year-old Peng Xiaofeng, whose 5.3-billion-dollar fortune is based on LDK Solar, a manufacturer of solar panels. While not even on last year's list, he was now number six.

"These success stories are encouraging a large number of young Chinese to entrepreneurship," said Hoogewerf.

Hurun's list was released just two days after US magazine Forbes published its list of China's richest, which also put Yang in the lead.

Yang, a graduate of Ohio State University, is the daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung, the co-founder of Country Garden Holdings, a property development firm.

Yeung transferred his shareholdings to his daughter in 2005, and she now sits on the company's board as an executive director, Forbes said. The US magazine put her wealth at 16 billion dollars.

Ironically, both lists were issued just days before the opening of the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress, which is expected this year to focus much attention on the growing wealth and income gaps in China.

Hoogewerf, a trained accountant whose Chinese name is Hu Run, previously compiled the Forbes rich list. - 2007 October 10 AFP

There are 345,000 millionaires in China
It also has 4,935 super rich with assets of more than US$30m each: study

China had 345,000 millionaires by the end of last year, the second-most in Asia after Japan, according to a new study by US investment bank Merrill Lynch.

The number of Chinese US dollar millionaires was up 7.8 per cent from the year before, helped by a stock market that saw its value soar 130 per cent over the 12 months, according to the study, co-authored with consultancy Capgemini.

'The Chinese economy turned in another year of strong performance in 2006, driven by surging exports and rising domestic consumption,' Merrill Lynch executive Francis Liu said in a statement released on Wednesday.

'Returns from the stock market also gave a lift to the number of China (millionaires) and their holdings.'

China also has 4,935 extremely rich people, or 'Ultra-HNWIs' (Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals), defined as those with financial assets of more than US$30 million, the statement said.

'China's rapid economic growth is reflected in a high concentration of Ultra-HNWIs,' said Dirk Chanmueller, a Capgemini executive. 'The country is home to more than 28 per cent of the Ultra-HNWIs in Asia Pacific.'

The survey was released a week after two annual 'China Rich' lists emerged, showing an explosion in the number of very wealthy people.

China now has 106 billionaires, up from 15 a year ago, according to one of the two lists, published by Shanghai-based Hurun Magazine.

The latest data was published just as the elite of China's Communist Party were gathered in Beijing for their five-yearly Congress, with the growing wealth divide among the top agenda items. -- 2007 October 19 AFP

There are already 250,000 millionaires (USD millionaires) in China today according to Citibank Private Banking which is also why they are focussed on building market share with this young group. - YAHOO! Special Report 2006 February 2

China has 17 million middle income households, defined as those with monthly salaries worth $622-$1,244 (5,000 to 10,000 RMB), accounting for 50 million people, or 3.8% of the total population. In neighboring Hong Kong, middle class homes account for half of the Chinese territory's population.
Source : China Daily, McCann Worldgroup 2006

Total worth of the 100 richest Chinese has grown to $50.7 billion; most of the tycoons made their fortunes in property

A 35-year old who made his fortune selling electronic appliances, heads this year's list of 100 richest Chinese compiled by EuromoneyChina.

With a fortune of US$1.3 billion (S$2.2 billion), he ousted last year's No. 1, Mr William Ding Lei of NetEase.com, who slipped to the seventh position.

He expanded its chain of stores last year to some 200 outlets from 140, and is pushing his business aggressively in Hong Kong.

Also the chairman of Hong Kong-listed China Eagle Group, he has ventured into Beijing real estate.

Born in Shantou in Guangdong province, the vocational school graduate moved to Beijing with his brother when he was 17.

They set up a business selling low-end electronic household appliances with a US$3,600 bank loan.

This is the sixth annual list of Chinese millionaires compiled by Shanghai-based researcher Rupert Hoogewerf.

The lion's share of tycoons on this year's list made their fortunes in real estate - a sector that has flourished amid a nationwide construction boom.

The elite club of China's Richest 100 is now worth US$30 billion (S$50.7 billion), up 29 per cent year-on-year.

It requires an entry level of US$150 million - a far cry from the paltry US$6 million when the list was put together in 1999.

However, this year's champion failed to appear on Forbes' list of the World's Richest.

No. 2 on the EuromoneyChina list is Mr Timothy Chen Tianqiao, 31, of Shanghai, with a fortune of US$1.05 billion.

He owns 60 per cent of Shanda Networking - China's largest online games company and its largest Nasdaq-listed company with a market value of US$2 billion.

Mr Chen took over Mr Ding's mantle as China's top IT geek, creating a US$1 billion paper fortune in online games.

The Fudan University graduate now plans to move from games to cartoons to all forms of entertainment.

He has even hired the former president of Microsoft China as Shanda's president, said Fortune magazine.

Ironically, he is the only Chinese to have made it to this year's Forbes' List of the World's Richest People, where he is ranked No. 514.

Mr Rong, born in Jiangsu province, went to Hong Kong at 36 and started an integrated-circuit business, listing it in the United States in 1982.

Four years later, he joined Citic Pacific, the Hong Kong arm of Citic, which was run by his father Rong Yiren.

The junior Rong invested in blue-chip Hong Kong companies such as Hong Kong Telecom, Cathay Pacific airline as well as civil infrastructure and real estate.

Ms Chen Lihua, 63, fell by two positions to share the seventh place with Mr Ding.

Beijing's richest woman, who comes from a line of Manchu aristocrats, owns Fu Wah International Hong Kong Group - one of Beijing's top real-estate developers.

Heading the list of 32 new names this year is Mr Li Jinyuan with US$720 million generated from a nine-million-strong direct sales international network selling health products.

Ranked No. 100 on this year's list is former Olympic gymnastics gold medallist Li Ning, whose sporting goods business is estimated at US$150 million.

As China opens up to the world, its entrepreneurs are fast learning the strategies of the global business game.

According to EuromoneyChina, the United States has the biggest impact on China's entrepreneurs, followed by Japan and Singapore. - by Connie Er SINGAPORE STRAITS TIMES 12 Sept 2004

China's Rich
Dotcom tycoon William Ding will lose his place at the top of China's rich list when Asiamoney publishes this year's listing tomorrow, according to mainland media.

The 33-year-old founder of popular Internet portal NetEase.com, with assets estimated at US$900 million (HK$7.02 billion), nudged aside Citic Pacific Group chairman Larry Rong as No 1 on the annual list of China's 100 richest people in 2003.

But in fast-changing China, fortunes can wax and wane quickly, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

The newspaper said Ding's fortune has shrunk because of NetEase's falling share price. It's one of the big three Nasdaq-listed Chinese portals.

NetEase shares, valued at US$39.08 on Friday, have lost almost half their value since October 13, 2003, when they sold for US$71.65.

Shanghai-based researcher Rupert Hoogewerf, who compiles the list for Asiamoney, said the 2004 list had changed greatly from last year. ``Compared with last year, there are 32 new faces on this year's list and the richest people have got more money,'' he said.

The combined assets of the 100 richest people exceeds 245.6 billion yuan (HK$231.57 billion) with each, on average, having 2.5 billion yuan in assets compared to 1.8 billion yuan a year earlier.

The threshold for inclusion on the list of China's 100 wealthiest entrepreneurs has climbed to 1.25 billion yuan compared to the 900 million yuan required last year. Hoogewerf said real estate players dominated this year's list. About 45 of the list's entrepreneurs are from the real estate and building sectors while new faces come from the agricultural, retail and steel and iron industries.

Hoogewerf, who has complained of the difficulties involved in uncovering the mainland's wealthiest, said it is getting easier to identify them thanks to the growing number of listed Chinese companies.

``As more private enterprises are preparing for listings, the transparency of these companies is higher, which makes my work easier and more accurate,'' he said.

This is Hoogewerf's sixth year listing China's richest but, asked about rising stars, he declined to name names.

However, 31-year-old Chen Tianqiao, Shanda Interactive Entertainment chairman and chief executive, at No 10 last year with a net estimated worth of US$480 million is expected to be at or near the top this year. - by Olivia Chung HK STANDARD 11 Oct 2004

With an increasingly sophisticated and wealthy customer base, Chinese consumer-goods makers are starting to pay attention to brand-building. The smartest are moving beyond simple product ads to marketing an entire lifestyle. In an echo of Nike's famous �Just do it� campaign, Li-Ning, the largest producer in China's sportswear market, has just launched an advertising blitz under the mottos �Goodbye� and �Anything is possible�. Costing 15m yuan ($1.8m), eight times the company's usual ad spend, it taps into the Chinese belief that they can safely wave goodbye to their hard lives of the past, and that the future is filled with unlimited opportunities.

One of those opportunities, if you ask Wilson Xu, Li-Ning's marketing manager, is a new-found freedom to seek a more balanced life. Putting it plainly, consumers should stop chasing academic and commercial success and get out more often to participate in more sport. Only around 15% of Chinese mainlanders aged 15-35 actively play a sport, compared with 50% in America. �Most Chinese people believe that success is about academic achievement and making money. They don't care about their health,� says Mr Xu.

The sophisticated ads, which feature ordinary people overcoming failure (one shows a boy who smiles despite hurting his hand skateboarding; another a girl kick-boxing and then a shot of her bandaged knuckles), are supposed to puncture the self-consciousness that keeps many Chinese on the sidelines unless they are already good at a given activity, says Kelvin Cheng, managing director of Leo Burnett Beijing, the agency behind the campaign. Mr Cheng says that the style is a new way of advertising for Chinese companies, which usually sell on price alone.

Of course, appealing to a new fad for spiritual well-being and for sports ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing is also a good way to get modern Chinese consumers to part with their money. After years of focusing on cheap prices, Li-Ning, like many Chinese companies, has spent the past two years learning that branding pays. The company is investing around 10% of its 1 billion yuan revenues in marketing, compared with 5% two years ago, and the proportion is due to grow.

That investment, which includes hiring a foreign ad agency, has enabled Li-Ning to hold on to its leadership despite the encroachment of foreign firms. Li-Ning leads both America's Nike, which has about 800m yuan in sales in mainland China, and Germany's Adidas. The prospect of the Olympics is helping to expand the market by more than 25% a year. Mr Xu reckons the new branding campaign should enable Li-Ning to double the retail prices of its most expensive products (shoes) to around 1,000 yuan in a few years, roughly what Nike's most expensive shoes cost now.

Will Chinese consumers continue to choose a home-grown brand over a glamorous foreign one such as Nike, which uses sports celebrities with global appeal to endorse its products? As China gains in self-confidence, they might. And Li-Ning understands the danger of relying too much on celebrities. Its founder was Li Ning, who won three gold medals for gymnastics in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but is now regarded as a bit pass� by younger consumers. Mr Li's days as a sporting hero may be over, but his brand may yet bring more glory. - The Economist 13 August 2003

Home Decor Takes Off in China
SHANGHAI -- When Sun Shuwen moved into her new apartment last year in Shanghai's Pudong district, her vision was simple. The 48-year-old accountant dumped her traditional clunky furniture, and scoured stores for pieces with a modern edge. In her lounge room, a Scandanavian-style coffee table is now flanked by two hip orange and cream chairs accessorized with purple and yellow cushions. But she got most creative in the bathroom. With help from an in-house designer at a local B&Q home-improvement store, Ms. Sun chose green marble tiles to surround the bathtub and an unconventional transparent sink. The total bill for the overhaul: a whopping $50,000.

Ms. Sun and others like her are fueling a Chinese boom in home decoration. In six years, the average annual amount home renovators in major cities spend improving interiors has almost tripled to $9,600 from $3,600, according to retailer Homemart. The sudden interest in domestic decor is a sign of China's rising affluence, but it's also reflective of an increasingly sophisticated middle class inspired by a wave of new glossy magazines, television shows and do-it-yourself stores dedicated to home improvement.

Faced with a plethora of choices, the era of suburbanites modeling their homes after the Ritz-Carlton is over, says Wang Jiasheng, general manager of Homemart, one of China's leading home-decoration companies. "That was the entrepreneur from rural China trying to show off," he says. "Now decoration style is on more of a human scale."

A motivating factor in the home renovation push is the fast-moving property market. Since 1995, Shanghai has seen an unprecedented boom in housing sales. Residential sales jumped to $13.4 billion in 2003 from $1.6 billion in 1995. In Beijing, residential property sales jumped to $9.5 billion in 2003, from $737 million in 1995. While many buyers in the 1990s invested their savings simply in real estate and basic property fixtures, the latest batch are spending more time and money on their home decor. Gong Quan, chairman of China National Interior Decoration Association, estimates that $36.2 billion was spent on home decoration in China in 2003, a 30% increase over the previous year.

This decoration wave is also creating business opportunities. A string of new do-it-yourself magazines, television shows and home-decorating centers is crowding the market. Since 1999, eight new national glossy magazines devoted entirely to soft furnishings have launched, as well as more than a dozen magazines focusing on architectural design. "Trends Home," published by Trends Magazine Publishing House, was one of the first lifestyle magazines to hit the stands in 1999 shortly after the government eliminated subsidized housing. It now faces hefty competition from other glossies including the Chinese edition of "Elle Decoration," a Hachette Filipacchi Medias Group magazine that debuted earlier this year.

On television, the interiors message is being spread through new shows such as "Dotting Your Home" and "Home Decoration for the Common People." While most are sponsored by decorating companies, national public television network CCTV will soon add an unsponsored home-improvement program, "The Front Line," to its line-up.

This style drive is encouraging more home owners to think about their personal aesthetic. "For years, Chinese were educated to have no character. Everyone had to be the same," says interior designer Kay Kuo, who recently returned to Shanghai from Los Angeles to open an interior design firm MaxK Design. "Five years ago, when mainlanders were able to purchase homes, the first impulse was to copy public spaces," she says. For the wealthy, there were two looks: the hotel lobby or the karaoke bar. "People didn't think about giving their homes a personal touch," she says.

Five years ago, Zhu Siying and her daughter Xiao Ya, a renowned opera singer, fell into the hotel-lobby design trap when they moved into a spacious villa in Shanghai's Hongqiao district, one of the city's first residential areas for expats. While they regret their decorating choices today, the pair had little experience overhauling interiors at the time; for many of her 69 years, Ms. Zhu lived in tiny apartments, some as small as 11 square meters. Without consulting an interior designer for their new apartment, they attempted to create a European gentry look by hanging a three-meter chandelier in the living room and filling one corner with faux Louis XIV furniture. A mirrored cabinet for good feng shui was added, but then they got stuck. The living room was still empty. The solution was to place two dining table sets -- a traditional blackwood and an Italian green marble -- next to one another.

In homes such as Ms. Zhu's, most properties come without the basics -- from floor coverings to fixtures. Lifestyle retailers are now making an aggressive push to fill the void. In just six years, Chinese-owned Homemart opened 21 stores nationwide, and has plans to develop five others. Orient Home, a small construction-supplies supermarket based in the northeastern city of Shenyang, has transformed itself into a 22-store home-improvement chain across China in five years.

Local chains are facing stiff competition from foreign firms. The German franchiser OBI, owned by Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft, has set up 10 home improvement stores in China since 2000. While Sweden's global home-renovation success story, Ikea, had a slow start when it first entered the market in 1998, it now has a store each in Shanghai and Beijing. There's plans to open eight more, although "we don't have a specific timetable," says Ian Duffy, general manager for Ikea China. To become more competitive, the company has reduced its overall prices, generally by half but in some cases more drastically. A simple shoe rack that sold for about $15.50 in 1998 now sells for about $1.80 -- a drop of almost 90%.

U.K.-based home-decorating giant B&Q, owned by home improvement company Kingfisher, has also seen its business take off in China. When it opened its first store in Shanghai five years ago to test the market, general manager Ian Strickland says he had no idea how quickly the concept would take off. B&Q now has 20 stores on the mainland, including the world's largest home improvement center in Beijing's Haidian district, spanning 18,000 square meters. The company says it processes 120,000 paying customers a week, each spending about $73 on average on everything from ceramic tiles to stoves. Their big draw is free in-house interior design advice -- an innovation that emerged in China.

"In the past, B&Q was a DIY (do-it-yourself) store," says Mr. Strickland. But in China, it was necessary for the company to develop a "single destination" solution for home shoppers. Not only can consumers purchase tiles and toilets, they can also get help choosing the right colors and models, and have the entire package installed. The reason for scrapping the traditional DIY approach was simple: "The Chinese need their hands held," says Mr. Strickland.

Initially, this strategy was a huge risk. "There was a lot of concern taking the brand into this area," says Mr. Strickland. Not only did it require hiring in-house designers, it also meant hiring contractors, electricians and plumbers. But the gamble paid off. Mr. Strickland says the store's blueprint is being copied not only by B&Q managers in other markets, but by its main competitors in China, including Homemart and OBI.

These in-house design teams are having a palpable affect on consumer trends. Not only are mainlanders beginning to inject a little character into their homes, they are finally overcoming their fear of color. Five years ago, 90% of the paint sold at B&Q was white; today, white paint accounts for 65% of sales. B&Q even came up with its own brand of bright paints to encourage color.

Zhang Wei is one of Homemart's trend pushers. An in-house consultant, he's a recent graduate of an interior design course taught at Shanghai's National Chiao Tung University. What he's learned in school, he's now packaging for the people: clean lines, tasteful tiles and intelligent layout. It was his sensibility that attracted Tan Yi and Chen Jianfeng to the store. Earlier this year, the professional couple bought a new apartment in Pudong -- an empty concrete shell without any fittings -- that was close to good schools and had green space for their four-year-old son.

Like other women at her office, Ms. Tan, a 32-year-old accountant poured over magazines and Web sites for design ideas. She even traded tips with colleagues at Siemens. "It's a hot topic in Shanghai," she says. "At lunch, when we eat, it's all we talk about."

In the beginning, the home decorating process was "fun" but the details were daunting, says Ms. Tan, who then recruited her husband, a 37-year-old deputy director of research at Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co. for the final decision. Their budget: about $18,000 for fittings and other basics and about $12,000 for the soft furnishings. Ms. Tan's biggest concern: "To make sure every kind of construction material was environmentally friendly."

In his cubicle on the shop floor, Mr. Zhang helpfully tweaks the blueprint for Ms. Tan and Mr. Chen's apartment, adding a closet in the entrance for shoes and coats, and other built-in components. He suggests furniture layout and lighting plans -- all products from Homemart -- and chooses bone-colored tiles for the master ensuite bathroom. Some of his ideas are incorporated, others rejected. Ms. Tan thinks the bone tile is too elaborate and opts for plain white. "We just want a home that's simple and comfortable," she says. Color will be minimal. Her concession: brighten the living room with yellow and green cushions.

While the pendulum is swinging from glitzy to minimalist, what's still missing is personality, says Wang Xu, editor of "Elle Decoration." While more mainlanders are willing to go the extra mile to put a personal and sophisticated stamp on their home, Ms. Wu believes it will take another decade before a real Chinese aesthetic emerges. In the meantime, to find truly individualistic homes to photograph for her magazine, she is turning to local artists such as Huang Rui in Beijing. These creative types are injecting innovative touches such as funky sculptures and glass accents into their homes to offset whitewashed walls and cement floors.

Ann New is another creative taking a risk with her personal space. When Ms. New returned to Shanghai after years of studying interior design and working for architects in Tokyo, she bought an apartment in downtown Shanghai and installed a curved wall to separate her living space from her painting studio, based on the advice of local architect and friend Ben Wood. A Japanese theme permeates the studio space. A raised platform doubles as a seating area and hand-painted screens that resemble antique Japanese prints divide the rectangular space.

Ms. New's bedroom, however, contradicts the calm of her working environment. Behind the cement wall and false pillars is an explosion of orange and pink pillows, tumbling off an unusual custom-made bed with built-in drawers for canvases and a raised table for her art books. Even the bathroom, with its muted mauve tiles and carefully arranged candles, has a colorful flair.

While Pudong home owner Ms. Sun hasn't embraced color as readily as Ms. New, she's still proud of her own design efforts -- and of the benefits a stylish space can bring. "Our home's more comfortable so we're eager to come home now right after work," she says. "I have more friends willing to come to my home now." - by Karen Mazurkewich Wall St Journal October 22, 2004

China's booming economy is creating more than 70 millionaires a day, but foreign banks do not have enough products, client managers or offices to tap into the market for top-end private wealth services.

Banks including Citigroup Inc and Standard Chartered plc know the world's fourth-largest economy holds huge potential for private banking, but weak industry rules, strict foreign exchange controls, too few branches and a lack of expertise mean it will take years to reap profits.

'Market conditions for private banking business in China are still very immature,' Shanghai Pudong Development president Fu Jianhua told the Reuters China Century Summit.

'Almost every bank wants to get top-end customers, but no matter whether the banks are Chinese or foreign, the problem is whether we have enough professional private bank client managers to offer top-end services to customers,' he said.

The limited range of products on offer due to China's highly regulated foreign exchange system is another obstacle.

'We are just in the start-up stage,' Christine Ip, head of China consumer banking at Standard Chartered, said at the summit.

'There are not too many products we can offer, unlike in a mature market like Hong Kong, Singapore, or even Korea.' Some private banking units of foreign lenders in China act more as representative offices, as overseas lenders are not yet allowed to help individual Chinese clients invest directly in overseas capital markets.

Foreign private bankers can approach rich Chinese financial services consumers and lure them to invest in overseas stocks, but no legal contracts for private banking business involving investments in foreign assets can be signed on the mainland.

As a result, mainland Chinese typically travel to Hong Kong to do their private banking business.

China is likely to surpass Japan by 2015 as the Asian country with the highest number of wealthy individuals, predicted Johnson Chng, head of the Greater China financial services practice at Bain and Co, a global management consultancy.

Japan was home to 1.4 million high net-worth individuals - with more than US$1 million in financial assets excluding their homes - worth a combined US$3.5 trillion in 2005, according to a report by Merrill Lynch and consultants Capgemini.

By comparison, mainland China was home to 320,000 such wealthy individuals, together worth about US$1.59 trillion.

Many foreign banks, including Citigroup and Standard Chartered, set minimum asset levels for their private bank clients in China at US$1 million - a typical global threshold.

Some banks such as BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Scotland, however, now only operate private banking offices in one or two major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, as Chinese regulators are keen to limit aggressive network expansions.

'If they can get 20 to 30 millionaires per office, that's already good enough,' said Mr Fu of Pudong Bank, a local partner of Citigroup.

'The biggest cost for private banking services is human. If you can get enough fairly paid financial experts, the profit margin contributed by these millionaires can be much bigger than you expect,' Mr Fu said.

In mature markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, competition is fierce for private bankers and job-hopping is rampant.

Chinese regulators are finalising regulations to boost the private banking business in China as demand for advanced and diversified wealth management services is growing rapidly.

Since the start of 2006, Chinese stocks have risen nearly five-fold, powered by double-digit economic growth.

'You can start to imagine the number of billionaires being created from the stock market. The other market is property,' said Mr Chng.

The new rules, expected to be announced in the next few months, could accelerate the rollout of private banking services in China. They may also add clarity on foreign exchange matters by giving China's foreign exchange watchdog a well-defined role in capital flows, bankers said.

'We are told that by the end of this year there will be a set of rules and guidelines,' said Ms Ip.

'So we want to set the groundwork, build the system, hire the expertise, train them up ... then we will have a clearer understanding of exactly what we can do and what we cannot do.' Mr Chng said that foreign players should focus on two key areas to win business in China: bolstering their brand, in a market where even many of the world's largest banks are unknown, and providing better service than their Chinese counterparts.

'It's not as easy as opening an outlet and telling people: 'This is our private bank',' said Pudong Bank's Mr Fu. 'You have to work hard, prepare and have patience before you begin to make profits, maybe several years later.' - Reuters 2007 September 8

China is expected to approve the establishment of 10 private commercial banks in a move aimed at preparing the sector for foreign competition after the country joins the World Trade Organisation.

Analysts hailed the move as a breakthrough for an industry that claims only one private bank, and said it could foreshadow broader banking reforms and more bank listings.

Four of the banks have completed feasibility studies and were awaiting final government approval to open around the time of China's WTO entry, expected in the next few months.

They are Tailong Bank, based in Taizhou, Zhejiang province; Ruifeng Bank of Shenyang, Liaoning province; China Great Wall Bank of Xian, Shaanxi province; and another bank, yet unnamed, in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province.

Six others, in cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, were conducting feasibility studies, with some expected to finish preparations within the next two or three months. "The approval of a series of private banks will be a major breakthrough," said professor Xi Junyang, a banking analyst at Shanghai Finance University.

"Such a move is likely to be followed by large-scale reform in state banks, which will see government stakes in the banks reduced drastically to help improve efficiency," Mr Xi said.

At present, the only private bank is China Minsheng Bank, set up in 1996, with private companies as shareholders.

The financial system is dominated by the four leading state banks, which largely provide capital to state firms, making it hard for private companies and individuals to borrow money and forcing them to borrow from friends or relatives or go to the grey market, where interest rates are higher.

The private sector accounts for more than 20 per cent of industrial output and nearly 40 per cent of retail sales, with its share of gross domestic product growing every year at the expense of the state sector. The new banks would help in a small way to alleviate the shortage of capital for private firms.

In its WTO accord signed with the United States last year, China promised foreign banks would be allowed to conduct local-currency business two years after Beijing joins the WTO. Only a handful of foreign banks are allowed to conduct business in yuan, and they are mainly confined to Shanghai and Shenzhen. The WTO agreement would lift geographic restrictions after five years.

Analysts see China's state commercial banks as ill-prepared for the expected competition.

The big four - Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China - are technically insolvent after lending heavily over the decades to moribund state enterprises that cannot repay them, according to industry analysts.

The new private banks would receive their investment entirely from private companies and individuals and lend to small and medium-sized businesses.

Tailong Bank, for example, has registered capital of 500 million yuan (about HK$468.55 million) raised from local credit co-operatives, strategic investors, township enterprises and individuals.

China also has 10 shareholding banks, more than 90 urban commercial banks, 3,000 urban credit co-operatives and 36,000 rural credit co-operatives.

Only two mainland banks are listed - Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Shenzhen Development Bank.

Securities regulators last month cleared China Minsheng Bank for an A-share issue expected at the end of the month.

In deciding whether to approve the new banks, the People's Bank of China will consider the growth of the private sector in the areas where they operate and the demand for capital.

It will also consider regulations to stop corruption and malpractice and ensure loans go to creditworthy projects and that the banks follow lending objectives set by the central bank in Beijing. - by Mark O'Neill and Reuters South China Morning Post

Time was, Zhang Puhong's weekend outings to Fragrant Hills Park in Beijing were a nerve-wracking affair: Zhang, his wife, and their 2-year-old son would all climb into their Citro�n Fukang hatchback to battle Beijing traffic on the 40-minute trip for weekly picnics. Since October, though, those trips have gotten much more relaxing. That's when Zhang bought a $27,800 Nissan Paladin sport-utility vehicle. Never mind that the pearl-white Nissan gulps twice as much gas as the Citro�n. "This car is big, so it's much safer" in the chaotic traffic, says the 34-year-old manager for a real estate services company. "I really enjoy driving it."

China, in its determined quest to match the West in consumerism, has adopted the SUV craze. For a small but fast-growing group of mainlanders, a Volkswagen Santana, Buick Sail, or Ford Fiesta just doesn't cut it anymore. These Chinese drivers, like their American counterparts, want to hit the streets swathed in layers of heavy metal. Consultant A.T. Kearney Inc. predicts that Chinese SUV sales will surge by 30% annually, compared with 18% growth for cars. That means sales will jump from 160,000 vehicles this year to almost 600,000 by 2008. SUVs are "the highest-growth segment within the fastest-growing automotive market in the world," says Paul Alcala, CEO of Beijing Jeep Corp., a joint venture of DaimlerChrysler and Beijing Automobile Industry Corp. "What better place to be?"

A lot of companies are asking the same question -- and jumping into the market. Beijing Jeep, which began making Grand Cherokees in Beijing a decade ago, added two new models this year: the $16,000 Jeep 2500 and the Pajero Sport, a bigger SUV that tops out at $42,000 and is produced under license from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. General Motors Corp. now makes Chevrolet Blazers in the northeastern city of Shenyang. Toyota this fall started making its Prado, Dario Terio, and Land Cruiser SUVs in China. And Honda Motor Co. plans to launch its CRV in China next year, while Nissan has been making the Paladin in Zhengzhou since February. "There are big opportunities for us in China," says Tadashi Ishihara, general manager of Nissan's China office.

GREAT LEAP UPWARD. Local makers are picking up on the trend, too. Zhongxing Automobile Manufacturing Co. started selling its $9,500 Chiye in June. Yongzhou's Hunan Changfeng Group launched the $23,000 Liebao Feiteng in October. Now, Chinese manufacturers are ready to make the great leap upward into higher-end -- and higher-margin -- models. Since June, 2002, Great Wall Automobile Holding Co., in the central city of Baoding, has made the $10,000 SAFE SUV -- so named to reinforce the message that bigger vehicles are safer for drivers in a crash. Now, it plans to develop an even heftier, more expensive model. "We feel pressure as competition is getting much fiercer," says Shang Yugui, a director at Great Wall.

That competition is great for buyers. Sticker prices have fallen 10% to 15% in the past two years, a trend likely to continue, according to A.T. Kearney. And with roughly 30 companies licensed to make SUVs, some producers are getting nervous. "The SUV market is overheating," warns Sun Jian, deputy managing director of A.T. Kearney's Shanghai office. "There is lots of idle capacity."

An added challenge for SUV makers will be pollution and fuel-consumption standards set to take effect by June, 2005. While the emissions limits are similar to those in the U.S. and Europe, the fuel-economy rules would be among the world's strictest -- and fewer than half the SUVs now made in China comply with them. With eager customers such as Zhang pacing the showroom floors, though, carmakers have every incentive to get their road hogs up to snuff and on the market. - By Dexter Roberts in Beijing
Business Week article 29 Dec 2003

China's New Tycoons
They make their fortunes in property and manufacturing

BEIJING - China's booming property market and 'factories of the world' have given birth to a new generation of tycoons who have made their fortunes in commercial housing and the manufacturing sector.

These tycoons dominate a new ranking of China's 400 richest businessmen, whose combined fortune of 303.1 billion yuan (S$65 billion) is slightly more than Beijing's 2001 gross domestic product of 284.5 billion yuan.

Almost half of them are in their 40s, and the eastern province of Zhejiang leads the pack, providing 62 of the tycoons on the list.

The list of Shenzhen-based New Fortune magazine, published in its latest issue, took 18 months of research to produce and required whittling down the initial list of 2,000 to the final 400 Chinese entrepreneurs.

Citic Pacific's Rong Zhijian, whose personal fortune is estimated at 6.11 billion yuan, topped the list. He was also ranked No 1 on a recent ranking of China's richest by US magazine Forbes.

New Fortune's rich list is believed to be the first such attempt by the Chinese media to do this sort of ranking. Some observers also see it as a response to Forbes' ranking, whose credibility has been questioned by many people, especially those in China.

Ms Feng Yu, an assistant editor with New Fortune, played down comparisons with the Forbes' list.

'Our research methodology is different from Forbes. Maybe it's just a coincidence that both magazines have the same person as China's wealthiest man,' she told The Straits Times.

By its own admission, New Fortune has acknowledged that its list did not capture everyone they thought ought to have been on the it, 'given the lack of transparency in declaring personal wealth'.

Ms Feng added: 'Ultimately, we wanted to go beyond the rankings and the figures on personal fortunes to explore the stories and lessons gleaned from their struggles, as well as the successful business models they adopted.'

Though it's still early days to judge New Fortune's list, it offers an interesting portrait of China's most successful entrepreneurs.

A typical entrant in New Fortune's top 400 ranking is a self-made businessma