In the past year, the pandemic severely restricted the opportunities for many people to go out or go on vacation - in short: to spend money.

As a result, a large part of the unspent money ended up in the savings account.

So it came about that, despite the economic slump, global financial assets rose by 9.7 percent and for the first time cracked the 200 trillion euro mark.

This emerges from the “Global Wealth Report” presented by Allianz SE on Thursday.

This is published annually by Allianz and analyzes the financial assets and debt of private households in almost 60 countries.

Madeleine Brühl

Editor in business.

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"While the economy is on the roller coaster, global financial wealth only knows one direction," says Ludovic Subran, Allianz's chief economist.

2021 will also be a good year for savers.

Allianz expects global financial assets to grow by seven percent this year.

However, according to the figures in the report, inequality, both between and within countries, will worsen again in the future after having stabilized for a short time last year.

For Germany, however, the analysts see a positive development: The financial assets rose in 2020 "very solid" by 6.6 percent - the second highest increase since the turn of the millennium.

Thanks to enormous government interventions, many countries managed to stabilize people's incomes.

Together with the lack of spending opportunities, this ensured that the inflows into bank accounts almost tripled in 2020.

The share of bank deposits in global wealth rose by 11.9 percent last year.

But since the stock exchanges also recovered quickly after the slump, there was also growth in securities investments of 10.9 percent.

“But we should take a closer look.

Many households don't really save, they just put their money aside, ”warns Subran.

Instead, he advocates using the money for retirement and the green transformation.

Americans still in first place

As the report shows, all of the regions under review have benefited from the increase in financial wealth, albeit to very different degrees. In the past year, Eastern Europe in particular developed very strongly, even if Asia (excluding Japan) remains the “powerhouse” of this growth, explains Arne Holzhausen, Head of Insurance & Wealth Markets at Allianz. While North America's share of international financial assets has remained constant over the past decade, Asia (excluding Japan) increased its share from 11 percent to 19.3 percent. The main development driver here is China with a 13 percent increase in financial assets. Overall, financial assets are growing faster in the emerging countries than in the industrialized countries, albeit from a lower level.

In terms of net financial assets per capita, the United States continues to lead the way with 218,470 euros. This result is hardly surprising, given that most of the millionaires in 2020 came from North America. "The USA is in first place because it is not so heavily indebted compared to Switzerland," explains Holzhausen. While Americans owe an average of 40,000 euros per capita, in Switzerland it is 100,000 euros - four times as much as in Germany. Due to the strong growth in debt and a moderate increase in financial assets, many European countries have slipped in comparison, Holzhausen continued. The Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, were able to hold their own, with Denmark and Sweden in third and fifth place. Germany, on the other hand, is far behind and comes with a net financial wealth of 61.In addition to reunification, Holzhausen sees a lack of pension assets as the main reason.

But the analysts also see a positive trend in Germany: In recent years, financial assets in this country have grown faster than in the rest of the euro area, and it is currently above average. However, the main reason for this development in 2020 was not bank deposits. "Last year was the first since the turn of the millennium in which Germans again invested more money in stocks and funds than in insurance and pension funds," says Arne Holzhausen. However, Germany also has a lot of catching up to do. Only in Ireland and the Netherlands is the share of securities in total assets even lower.

The “Global Wealth Report” comes to the conclusion that income inequality even improved last year due to corona-related special effects.

Overall, the number of people in the wealth middle class in the countries under review fell from 780 million to 720 million in 2020.

The reason for this was primarily the rise of many US households into the wealthy upper class.

In many countries the share of the national middle class in total national wealth has declined in recent years.

According to the wealth report, this gradual disappearance of the middle points to an increasing polarization of society on the subject of prosperity, which could become socially explosive in the long term.