Starting next Monday, China will take over the “crossroads of the world”, on New York’s 2 Times Square. Renting the most prominent location on the building for up to $500,000 per month, China’s Xinhua is announcing its presence to the world – once again.

As reported by the NY Times, the 60 feet times high and 40 feet wide sign is rented by Xinhua for over six years – a strong long-term statement on globally shifting tectonic plates of economic power.

It is yet another sign of what I have called the metatrend “West-to-East” in recent years. However, we don’t only see the trend “West-to-East”.

“East-to-West” as a trend is becoming a global force.

A few examples around wealth management:

– China is the second largest economy in the world.

– Asia-Pac HNW investors are the second largest in the world (both for number of investors and wealth).

– China for HNW investors occupies fourth place (behind the US, Japan, and Germany).

– Private Wealth grew at more than double the global average in Asia-Pac last year, at a rate of over 17%.

– Through 2015, wealth will grow fastest in Asia-Pac, at a rate of 11.5%.

– Clients in Asia-Pacific are more hands-on – less than 10% of the region is in discretionary mandates.

– RMB products are a huge growth market in Asia and abroad (HSBC and BOC have introduced them offshore).

Also, a few recent blogs on the metatrend:

– The View from Asia: Running a Successful Pan-Asia Asset Management

– Co-branded Standard Chartered/Apple Campaign: Regaining Client Trust with Mobile Apps

– World Wealth Report 2011 – HNW Investment Trends: Metatrends, Asset Allocation and Bridges

– Building Bridges: Asia and Global Asset Management – Views from Top Institutions and Distributors

– Asia Fund Passport: The future of fund distribution in Asia

In case you haven’t noticed, take note of how “developed” and “emerging” markets are being redefined.