Where the money is in China

With 415,000 dollar millionaires as at the end of 2007, China is Asia's second largest wealth management market. The poor performance of the Chinese stock market last year -- it lost two-thirds of its value -- will have wiped out much of this wealth, but according to a recent report by research and consultancy firm Celent, the prospects for the wealth management industry in China are healthy.

By 2014 the size of the market for individual wealth management products is expected to be $700 billion, double what it was in 2007. The report goes on to give a demographic account of China's rich and their investment habits.

One thing that makes the...