China minted two new billionaires per week in 2017, says report

China produced around two new billionaires a week last year as the fortunes of the world’s ultra-rich soared by a record amount, a report said yesterday Billionaires’ wealth enjoyed its “greatest-ever” increase in 2017, rising 19 per cent to $8.9 trillion ($7.8 billion euros) shared among 2,158 individuals, said the report by Swiss banking giant UBS and auditors PwC.

But Chinese billionaires expanded their wealth at nearly double that pace, growing by 39 percent to $1.12trn. “Over the last decade, Chinese billionaires have created some of the world’s largest and most successful companies, raised living standards,” said Josef Stadler, head of Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management. The report said China minted two new billionaires a week in 2017, among more than three a week created in Asia.

In the Americas region, the wealth of billionaires increased at a slower rate of 12pc, to $3.6trn, with the United States creating 53 new billionaires in 2017 compared to 87 five years ago. Currency appreciation saw European billionaires’ wealth grow 19pc although the number of billionaires rose by just 4.0pct to 414. Wealth transition from just five families accounted for 30pc of the continent’s wealth expansion, the study said.

It warned of lower economic growth in the United States and China if the trade war between the two countries escalates. “US and Asia ex-Japan equities could fall by 20pc from their mid-summer 2018 levels.” Billionaires from Asia, especially in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, are now challenging the traditional dominance of Americans as technology entrepreneurs. The report said that globally, self-made billionaires have driven 80 percent of the 40 main breakthrough innovations over the last 40 years.