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A high-net-worth individual (HNWI ) is a person with a high net worth. In the western. and primarily American. private banking business, these individuals typically are defined as having investable finance (financial assets, excluding primary residence ) in excess of US$1 million. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

However, there are distinct classifications of HNWI and the exact dividing lines depend on how a bank wishes to segment its market. For example, an investor with less than US$1 million but more than US$100,000 is considered to be affluent. or perhaps even Sub -HNWI. [ 3 ] Very -HNWI (VHNWI) can refer to someone with a net worth of at least US$5 million. [ 4 ]

By 2007, the expansion of HNWI assets led to the creation of a super class of HNWIs, known as Ultra -high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), i.e. those with US$30 million in liquid financial assets according to the Capgemini and Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report 2006 [ 5 ] [ 2 ] or with a disposable income of more than US$20 million. [ 6 ]

At the end of 2013, there were just over 13 million HNWIs in the world. The United States of America had the highest number of HNWIs (4,034,000) of any country, whilst London had the most millionaires (339,200) among cities. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]

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§ United States: SEC regulations [ edit ]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires all SEC-registered investment advisers to periodically file a report known as Form ADV. [ 9 ] Among other things, Form ADV requires each investment adviser to state how many of his clients are high-net-worth individuals. The Form ADV Glossary of Terms explains that a high-net-worth individual is an individual with at least $1,000,000 managed by the reporting investment adviser, or whose net worth the investment adviser reasonably believes exceeds $2,000,000 (or who is a qualified purchaser as defined in section 2(a)(51)(A) of the Investment Company Act of 1940). The net worth of an individual for SEC purposes may include assets held jointly with his or her spouse. Unlike the definitions used in the financial and banking trade, the SEC’s definition of HNWI would include the value of a person’s verifiable non-financial assets, such as a primary residence or art collection.

§ Annual World Wealth Report [ edit ]

The 2013 World Wealth Report [ 12 ] was jointly produced by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management and included, for the first time, the Global HNW Insights Survey produced in collaboration with Scorpio Partnership. The inaugural survey represented one of the largest and most in-depth surveys of high-net-worth individuals ever conducted, surveying more than 4,400 HNWIs across 21 major wealth markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Scorpio Partnership have established themselves as a market leader in the supply of HNW insight having spent over 15 years conducting private client interviews, collecting business intelligence and working with over 100 clients who range from universal banks, domestic retail banks, specialist private banks and fund managers, to family offices, high-net-worth clients and regulatory bodies. The partnership is independently owned and managed by Sebastian Dovey and Cath Tillotson and carries out global assignment overseen from its base in London’s West End.