Russian businessmen have earned a reputation as the most conservative in the world. They are reluctant to invest in new areas or projects where there is no guaranteed income. Russian oligarchs don’t like to part with money, so they think through each step before investing.
Why Russian oligarchs are reluctant to invest
According to the study, more than 50% of the investment assets of domestic businessmen invested in bonds and financial instruments that are guaranteed to generate income. In comparison, for rich people from other countries, this kind of investment makes up 37% of the total portfolio.
In 2019, it has conducted an extensive survey of investors from different corners of the world: Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and others. The analysis involved businessmen who have at least $ 30 million of free assets. Data collection used a variety of sources, among them financial institutions, analytical agencies, surveyed 600 family offices and consultants.
The results of the research revealed that Russian rich people and businessmen from CIS countries invest on average 27% of the capital in bonds – which makes up the largest share in their portfolios. 26% belong to financial market instruments, 20% is the segment of real estate. Such a high percentage of money and bonds are typical only for the people of this region. In other countries bonds owned approximately 9-24%.
The Russians don’t show an active interest in the real estate market and gold, except for jewelry, which invests 1% of assets.
Investments in shares account for only 16% of assets, without regard to the ownership of large parts in various companies. Even fewer people in Latin America trust this type of investment, where the rate is at only 12%. But representatives of North America, by contrast, are interested in investing shares. Their share of investment is 40%. The portfolio Australians percentage of shares – about 35%.
This difference in approaches can be explained by the mentality. For the most part, Russian oligarchs are the owners or the top management of large corporations. The activity of the rentier in the country has not reached great popularity yet, so the main asset of such businessmen is their own company. And it is obvious that they cannot afford to lose capital, and use conservative approaches to minimize possible risks.
Russian experts stress that over the past year, instruments of the financial market have increased their use in investment portfolios of the rich. Now they account for 10-30% of total assets. Contributed to a trend of fluctuations on the stock exchanges. Deposit dollar rates have increased, and now they are close in terms of yield to bonds.
