Thursday, Jun 14, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Rich people in the United Arab Emirates are the world's keenest investors in so-called "treasure" assets, according to a recent survey by the U.K. lender Barclays.
Well-heeled investors in the U.A.E. had 18% of their wealth tied up in assets including jewelry, tapestries, gold, antiques, classic cars, fine art and coins, the survey showed. That was a greater percentage than any other country where Barclays conducted the survey.
"One general theme seems to be that respondents from economies that have more volatile or less developed financial markets and high per capita incomes tend to hold higher proportions of treasure in their portfolios," the report said. "Treasure in these markets can often be embedded in the local culture and perceived as something that is portable. It may be considered to be a more secure store of value than paper assets."
The next most treasure-hungry countries were Saudi Arabia and China, where the wealthy reported 17% of their portfolios in treasure assets. At the bottom of the list were India, with only 3% in treasure, and Qatar, with just 2%.
-By Asa Fitch, Dow Jones Newswires, +971 4 446-1685, asa.fitch@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
14-06-12 1424GMT
