DOHA: The high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Qatar is accruing wealth at a faster pace than developed economies. An estimated 42 percent of Qatari HNWIs plan to give away all their wealth to family and charity during their life time, the latest report in the Barclays Wealth Insights series reveals.
The HNWIs in the Middle East are more confident about the increasing speed of wealth creation. The figure of 100 percent of Qatari HNWIs (UAE – 68 percent; Saudi Arabia – 54 percent) who have accumulated their wealth within that time frame is the highest of any country surveyed. Most of the wealth has been accumulated through profits from business, personal investments and profits from property.
Within the region, Qatar’s HNWIs (76 percent) are the most confident about the speed of wealth accumulation, compared to 60 percent of UAE respondents and 43 percent of Saudi respondents. In the rapid growth economies of the Middle East, nearly three quarters (73 percent) of respondents have accumulated the majority of their wealth in less than 20 years.
The report also highlighted that nearly 42 percent Qatari high net worth individuals plan to redistribute wealth to family, friends and charity during their lifetime, compared to other countries within the region. Over half (60 percent) of respondents in the Middle East agreed that wealth can be created faster today than in the past, in comparison to 43 percent in Europe and 31 percent in North America.
Many HNWIs around the world now prefer to give their money to family and friends and charitable causes in their lifetime rather than as inheritance, seeing their wealth as an ‘enabler’, the report revealed. Across the Middle East, 96 percent of respondents indicated their intention to pass on some or all of their wealth to family or friends, either during their lifetime or as inheritance.
Rory Gilbert, Managing Director and Head of Wealth and Investment Management, Barclays, Middle East and North Africa, said: “HNWIs in Qatar are accruing wealth at a faster pace than more developed markets.... Qatari respondents were the most likely in the Middle East to distribute their wealth to their family, friends and charity for them to spend, during their lifetime. It is interesting to note that Qatari HNWIs have acquired their wealth in less than 20 years, compared to other Middle Eastern and international respondents, who took longer to acquire their wealth.”
The rise of entrepreneurial wealth and the shifting centre of economic power have profound consequences for the way in which wealthy individuals plan for the future and think about a legacy for their wealth, the report noted.
The Peninsula
