KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 ― Malaysia has been ranked 35th in net per capita financial assets and 32nd in gross per capital financial assets by Germany-based Allianz in its ninth edition of the "Global Wealth Report 2017”.

The report, which puts the asset and debt situation of households in more than 50 countries under the microscope, said in 2017, financial assets growth of Malaysia’s private households picked up, amounting to 8.6 per cent after less than six per cent in the previous three years.

In a statement today, it said growth drivers were insurance and pension assets with a plus of 10.6 per cent, which were also the most important asset class, reflecting the strength of occupational pensions.

"Malaysia’s private households’ restraint on borrowing paid off as increase in liabilities slowed down further to 5.0 per cent translated into a debt-to-gross domestic product ratio of 84.4 per cent, coming down from a record high 89.0 per cent in 2015,” it said.

This ratio, however, is still way above the average of Asia ex-Japan (49.2 per cent), it said.

Meanwhile, net financial assets grew by 12 per cent in 2017, the fastest increase since 2012.

As a result, net financial assets per capita amounted to euro 8,350, placing Malaysia 35th in the list of the richest countries (financial assets per capita), one rank higher than the previous year, swapping places with Poland.

At the top of the list, Switzerland recaptured the top spot that it lost the year before to the US. ― Bernama