Super-rich hit by wealth bite: UBS

Staff reporter and Bloomberg

The number of billionaires fell by 3 percent from a year ago to 2,668 and their total wealth dropped to US$12.7 trillion (HK$99.06 trillion) in March.

And the wealth and numbers are likely to fall further from next March due to falling asset prices, says the UBS billionaires report.

The two most populated sectors, finance and investments (392 billionaires), and technology (348 billionaires) experienced some of the highest rates of change.

Fifty new billionaires were created in finance and investments, and 30 disappeared. There were 41 new tech billionaires and 57 fewer.

The Asia-Pacific region still has the largest number of billionaires, but the number fell to 1,084, down 59 from last year.

In terms of total wealth, the Asia-Pacific region was the second largest, with wealth falling nearly 10 percent year-on-year to US$4.2 trillion.

India has 166 billionaires, up from 140 last year. The US is home to about a third of the world's billionaires, with 735, up from 724 last year, and their total wealth rose nearly 7 percent to US$4.7 trillion.

Almost half of the super-rich clients the bank surveyed said energy was attractive for future investment returns and business.