Financial assets of Chinese households grow quickly amid COVID-19, report finds
Chinese household wealth weathered the COVID-19 crisis and grew quickly in 2020, thanks to the rapid recovery of the stock market and the surge in pension funds' investment returns, a report says.
Despite the crisis, private households' gross financial assets increased by 13.6 percent in 2020 after a 10.3 percent rise in 2019, according to the latest Allianz Global Wealth Report.
That amounts to around 47 percent of total gross financial assets in the Asia region.
Securities, life insurance, and pension fund assets, which account for more than a half of Chinese households' portfolios, increased by 13.3 percent and 18.3 percent respectively.
Financial assets include cash and bank deposits, receivables from insurance companies and pension institutions, securities (shares, bonds, and investment funds), and other receivables.
Across Asia, households' financial assets rose by a healthy 12.7 percent in 2020, even faster than in the already strong previous year (9.8 percent).
All asset classes contributed to the uptick with double-digit growth rates; bank deposits recorded a growth of 12.3 percent, securities grew 13.9 percent, and insurance and pension increased by 11.4 percent.
However, despite the stark growth, there remains homework to do in China with regard to access to financial services and financial literacy, the study noted.
With net financial assets per capita amounting to 12,430 euros (US$14,371), China still ranks only upper midfield in Asia. In Singapore, the region's richest country in terms of net financial assets per capita, the average inhabitants' net financial wealth is ten times that.
With savings as the main driver, global gross financial assets jumped by 9.7 percent in 2020, reaching the 200-trillion-euro mark for the first time.
