What is the Saving Pattern of Mass Affluent Population in Hong Kong

At the global level, there has been a significant rise in the mass affluent population. The mass affluent have been categorized as those who resort to savings more than spending and in turn, invest their money for future. Following are the traits that define mass affluent population:

Figure: Consumer Spending Attitude: Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, mass affluent population is specifically defined by the following attitudes:

· They are more interested in Investments and Insurance products than the general population.

· They are relatively more skeptical about the money management and account aggregation services than the general population.

· They are more likely to be saving in order to fund a future investment and hence, these are a target for Banks providing easy switching between deposit and Equity accounts.

Amidst the fact that the Chinese Economy has been in doldrums since 2012 with slowdowns continuing till the end of fiscal year 2015, the Hong Kong’s economic data released explains the change in spending and savings habits and financial product preferences among mass affluent population in Hong Kong.

The labour market conditions remain tight. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was has been considerably high. Amid the visible decline in tourist arrivals, the value of retail sales declined in the first quarter of 2016 after significantly contracting in the year 2015.

There have been following macro-economic developments in Hong Kong:

· Investment expenditure extended the decline in the first quarter of 2016 after significantly contracting in the year 2015.

· Growth of private consumption expenditure slowed.

· Inflationary pressure should remain limited in the near term, given the muted global inflation and soft international commodity prices, while local cost increases will likely be restrained by the subpar economic conditions and the retreat in rental cost pressures

Trading and Logistics and Financial Services are among the four pillar economic sectors of Hong Kong. Since the mass affluent population has a significant presence in these sectors, any economic changes/developments in the state will significantly impact these sectors, which in turn, will impact the savings and investment habits of the mass affluent population.

2013
2014
2015

GDP(USD million)
274.1
289.5
307.3

GDP per capita(USD)
38,100
40,000
42,100

Real GDP Growth (%)
+3.1
+2.6
+2.4

Retail Sales Growth (%)
+11
-0.2
-3.7

Visitor Arrival Growth (%)
+11.7
+12
-3.9

Table: Major Macro-Economic Indicators

Home prices have slumped since September 2015 and monthly sales in January 2016 fell to the lowest. Amid a spike in flexible mortgage rates this month and weak demand for new developments, the low transactions volume for January is the latest evidence that prices have further to fall.

Hence, Mortgage Loans that account for a certain proportion of the portfolio of mass affluent population has declined, thus reflecting a change in the product preferences of this class of population.

Government has announced some of the broad-range of initiatives in the budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 to develop the economy, to enhance education and improve Health Care.

These measures will significantly help in increased investment in the economy. Although, there is still an increasing concern that Government is not providing enough stimulus to the weak economy and this is quite observable in the sluggish nature of the stock markets of Hong Kong.

And since investments in stocks are one of the preferred investments of mass affluent population, this is resulting into flow of funds thereof from these riskier assets into safer assets such as deposits in banks.

Figure: Government Initiatives: Hong Kong

Various Players Catering To This Class of Population

The report titled “Mass Affluents: Product Holding and Preferences in Hong Kong” discuss mass affluent population and their financial holdings.