In Won
KB Financial Group announced on June 8 that the number of Koreans who own at least 1 billion won (US$893,260) in financial assets increased by approximately 15,000 year on year to reach about 182,000 last year. It added that their total financial assets were estimated at 406 trillion won (US$362 billion) as of the end of 2014, and the top 0.35 percent of the population owned 14.3 percent of the financial assets of the entire households in Korea.
“The number of billionaires increased by 8.7 percent last year, but the rate of increase fell short of the annual average between 2008 and 2014 at 13.7 percent,” it explained, continuing, “This can be attributed to a low deposit interest rate, the domestic stock market drifting sideways, and sluggish domestic consumption.”
Approximately 45 percent of the billionaires were found in Seoul, followed by Gyeonggi Province (19.8 percent) and Busan City (7.1 percent). The ratio of billionaires living in Seoul decreased from 48.0 percent to 47.3 percent, and then to 45.2 percent between 2012 and 2014.
Of their assets, 52.4 percent were real estate, while financial assets accounted for 43.1 percent. Cash and savings took up 47.2 percent of the financial assets, whereas stocks and funds represented 16.0 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively. Their annual average income totaled 290 million won (US$259,033), approximately 620 percent of the others’.