A survey commissioned by Banco Weng Hang released Wednesday found that 15.7 percent of locals aged 30 or above possess liquid assets of at least million patacas.
The bank commissioned the public University of Macau (UM) to conduct the survey, the first time a survey of pataca millionaires in Macau has been done.
The findings of the “Macau Millionaires Wealth Review” survey were presented during a press conference co-hosted by the university’s Associate Professor Clement Chow Siu Fung, the bank’s Wealth Management Department Head Kenneth Kuok Chi Keong and Retail Banking Division Head Cynthia Vu Sin Man, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Nape.
According to The Macau Post Daily, the survey asked 700 locals aged 30 or above around town between last November and January.
The results showed that 15.7 percent of the respondents have liquid assets of one million patacas or above, with men accounting for 58 percent of the millionaires.
Kuok said that even though the figure of 15.7 percent seemed to be quite low amid the city’s economic boom, it may be due to locals’ preference to invest in property if they have a large amount of money.
He also said that as Chinese tend to be “modest”, it was likely that respondents understated the amount of liquid assets they really have when asked in the survey so that how wealthy locals really are may be more than what the survey suggests.
> > Chow said that based on the latest official statistics, he estimated that Macau has about 58,000 millionaires.
According to the findings, 73 percent of the millionaires are aged between 30 and 49, the results showed. Some 46 percent had a monthly income between 20,001 and 40,000 patacas, the largest income group in the survey, with 18 percent of them earning more than 40,000 patacas.
About 25 percent worked in the gaming, hotel and tourism sectors, while 20 percent worked in the financial sector, and 11 percent were civil servants.
The survey also asked respondents whether they understood the concept of investment and money management. According to the results, only six percent said they understood the concept well while 54 percent said they just had a very basic understanding. Kuok said that the results reflected the situation of the customers of his bank, many of whom said that they did not know much about financial products as they were leading a busy life and could not catch up with numerous kinds of financial products.
Kuok also said that compared to Hong Kong, Macau ’s citizens tend to be more conservative about investment. According to the results, 69 percent of the respondents said they invested in stock, the most popular investment product, while less than 10 percent invested in more innovative products, such as equity- or currency-linked products, which Kuok said are quite popular in Hong Kong.
The findings show that on average the respondents invested 21 percent of their cash in stock while they put 53 percent in their bank accounts. Kuok said that while his bank’s customers realised that the low interest rates for bank deposits were depreciating their assets amid constant inflation, they appeared to be cautious about putting more money in various investment products due to a fear of suffering losses.
Kuok suggested that locals try to diversify their investment portfolios, in which they can ask financial consultants to tailor it to their own needs. He said this could lower the risk of their investment portfolios in long term.(macaunews)
