China’s ranks of wealthy people have surged above 1.5m, with combined assets of Rmb165tn ($24.2tn), but growth in their riches is expected to slow this year to a decade-low, according to a new report from China Merchants Bank and Bain & Co. The number of Chinese with investable assets of at least Rmb10m climbed to 1.58m by the end of 2016, up from 180,000 a decade earlier. Their combined assets are expected to rise to Rmb188tn by the end of this year. That marks a drop in growth to 14% – the slowest for at least a decade which follows a peak between 2014 and 2016, when the compound annual rate hit 21%. The rate at which Chinese millionaires are created is also expected to decline. The Financial Times reports sweeping reforms to China’s wealth management market this year, as well as a crackdown on high-risk investment products sold by insurers, accounted for part of the deceleration in growth.
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