Few private banking markets are growing as fast as the Philippines.
The ranks of those with more than $250,000 of investable wealth in southeast Asia’s sixth-biggest economy are expected to more than double by 2030 according to HSBC. Back in 2019, data and research provider Wealth-X tipped the Philippines to be among the top 10 fastest-growing markets for high net worth households.
“The pie is getting bigger,” Lizette Perez, head of Metrobank Private Wealth, tells Asiamoney. “Here in Manila, of course. But wealth is actually quite large in the provincial areas, and they’re not as covered.”
Although the Philippines is starting from a low base – and is still plagued by poverty – several drivers are coming together all at once. One is the country’s enviable macroeconomic backdrop. Its economy grew an impressive 7.6%, year on year, in 2022, beating the government’s target of 6.5% to 7.5%. And despite the global turmoil, the Philippine central bank expects growth to exceed 6% this year, outpacing China yet again.
That GDP growth is also well above the average 4.3% that the IMF expects in southeast Asia’s major economies – and on a par with the 6.1%