The FINANCIAL -- Allianz unveiled the third edition of its "Global Wealth Report", which puts the asset and debt situation of private households in more than 50 countries under the microscope.

The report shows that the marked recovery in financial assets witnessed in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007/08 came to an abrupt standstill last year: net per capita financial assets increased by only 0.6% in 2011, as against 7.8% and 9.7% in the years 2009 and 2010.

As Allianz reported, this disappointing development is due primarily to low growth in gross financial assets: although the EUR 100 trillion mark was surpassed in 2011 – also thanks to the weak euro – pushing the global financial assets of private households up to EUR 103.3 trillion in total, the growth rate came in at only 1.6% and in per capita terms at a mere 0.8%.

"It is obvious that uncertainty, low interest rates and the euro crisis have left their mark on asset development", said Michael Heise, chief economist of Allianz SE. "Savers are bearing the brunt of the fact that no real progress has yet been made as far as reorganizing the financial markets and solving the crisis in the eurozone are concerned."

Looking back, it also becomes clear that savers have been faced with a hostile savings environment for some time now: since 2000, gross per capita financial assets have been growing at an average rate of 3.1% a year; this is more or less identical to the average rate of inflation during the same period. In other words: savers worldwide have not been able to achieve any real asset growth over the past eleven years. "A sobering conclusion", commented Heise.

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