It’s hard to believe when we’re scrambling to find NTUC Fairprice coupons for groceries and scrounging every cent for our savings, but households in Singapore are actually the richest in Asia.
Or at least that’s what it says on the recent Global Wealth Report released by financial services firm Allianz. Apparently, Singapore’s gross financial assets (bank deposits, securities, insurance and pension funds) per capita reached up to €114,155 (SGD173,050) by the end of 2015 — the highest among 10 Asian countries that were surveyed.
Even Japanese households don’t make that much. They came in second, making €108,660 in gross financial assets per capita for the year, while Taiwan came in third with €99,257.
The firm also found that countries such as Malaysia, China, Thailand, India and Indonesia can still do more to give their populations access to financial services. In countries with high per capita financial assets like Singapore, Japan and Taiwan, more than 90 percent of their citizens over the age of 15 have a bank account.
The downside to having such an easy access to financial services? High debt, which households in Singapore unfortunately top as well. The city-state was found to have the highest debt per capita in the region, with loans amounting to an average €34,900 (SGD53203) per inhabitant.
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