The global economic downtown has not affected the personal wealth of the rich in China that continued to expand this year and also opened up more opportunities for private bankers, China Daily reported Friday.

The number of millionaires with personal holdings in excess of 1 million U.S. dollars is expected to cross 450,000 by the end of the year, with assets under management hitting 1.73 trillion U.S. dollars, surpassing the country's pre-crisis levels, said the report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Thursday.

"China is arguably the most explosive wealth market in the world, as rising income and a high savings rate will continue to spur development," Frankie Leung, partner and managing director of BCG Greater China and one of the primary authors of the report, said.

He expected the number of millionaires in China to reach 800,000 over the next four years.

The study also showed the country's wealth was much concentrated in certain individual groups and regions. Most of the millionaires are located in Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and other coastal provinces.

With the swelling personal wealth in China, both foreign banking giants, including HSBC, Citibank and BNP Paribas and local banks have set up private banking operation in the country.