New Delhi, Jul 9 (IANS): The overall wealth of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) declined by 3 per cent in 2018, resulting in a worldwide loss of $2 trillion, said the World Wealth Report 2019 (WWR).

This is the first drop in the last seven years, said the report published by Capgemini on Tuesday.

"Largely due to a drop in wealth in the Asia-Pacific region (specifically China), this decline has resulted in a loss of $2 trillion worldwide. Despite this, wealth management firms maintained stable levels of customer trust and satisfaction throughout the year, though better personal relationships are still key for enhanced performance of firms which can be achieved through effective utilization of next-gen technologies," it said.

The global HNWI population and wealth declined by 0.3 per cent and 3 per cent respectively, with Asia-Pacific hit the hardest, it noted.

"The region (Asia Pacific) represented $1 trillion of the global decline in wealth, as the HNWI population decreased by 2 per cent and HNWI wealth by 5 per cent. China alone was responsible for more than half (53 per cent) of Asia-Pacific and more than 25 per cent of global HNWI wealth loss," it said.

Meanwhile, HNWI wealth declined across nearly all other regions; in Latin America it declined by 4 per cent, Europe by 3 per cent and North America by 1 per cent. However, the Middle East bucked the trend, generating 4 per cent growth in HNWI wealth and increasing its HNWI population by 6 per cent due to strong GDP growth and financial market performance.