A report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed that 220 thousand Brazilians have, together, $ 1.2 trillion applied in the financial market. According to the Folha de S. Paulo, to belong to that group, you must have invested at least $ 1 million. Two years ago, the Brazilians formed group of 130 thousand members with $ 1.1 trillion.

Despite the global financial crisis, the personal wealth accumulated in the world grew 5% in 2007 and reached $ 109.5 trillion, according to a report released on Thursday by BCG.

It was the sixth consecutive year of expansion. The biggest growth last year was due to citizens of countries like China and the Persian Gulf, and also to the families that were already rich.

The concentration of wealth, according to the study, is growing. The homes that make up the richest 1% held 35% of the world's wealth in 2007. And the ultra-rich - the top% of 0001, with family assets exceeding $ 5 million - together have $ 21 trillion, or one fifth of the wealth of the planet.

And new millionaires are emerging rapidly, especially in emerging countries of Asia and Latin America. Overall, the number of families milionárias grew 11% last year, reaching 10.7 million worldwide.

The Boston Consulting note that while the rich remain rich, had to make adjustments due to financial crisis. Passed this year their money for applications and more conservative in their own countries, and some individuals cancelled new investment.

In North America, the crisis of housing and credit had an impact on personal wealth, which grew at 3.8% - well below the 9% of 2006.

"The financial crisis continues launching a spectrum on the rich markets down," said Victor Aerni, co-author of the study. For this year, the expectation of the Boston Consulting is that the assets grow less than 1%.

But things may improve over five years, according to the study, with a growth of personal wealth exceeding 3% a year - still below the average of 8.5% between 2002 and 2007.

In the emerging markets of Asia / Pacific and Latin America, the wealth has had a growth of 14%, fuelled mainly by industrial growth in Asia and the price of commodities, which benefits the Middle East and Latin America. The political and economic stability of these regions also contributed.

The Boston Group said that banks, brokerages and administrators of values fortunes of choice but will not expand their presence in those markets. The consultancy says that Dubai and Singapore are becoming regional banking centers capable of competing with other more traditional, such as Switzerland

How many are there in The Middle East ?

nowhere near that. Most of the money is held by sheiks and royal families.

...and the point is...?