Hong Kong Surpasses Switzerland as the World's Largest Cross-border Wealth Center for the First Time

According to the Financial Times, Hong Kong has surpassed Switzerland for the first time to become the world's largest cross-border wealth management center. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that by 2025, international assets under management by Hong Kong's wealth management institutions will reach $2.9 trillion, with approximately 60% originating from Mainland China.

The report indicates that Hong Kong's equity capital market is warming up, providing companies with efficient offshore financing channels; at the same time, China's global competitiveness in high-end manufacturing sectors such as electric vehicles is also driving wealth accumulation and demand for cross-border asset allocation. BCG expects that with the continuous rapid growth of wealth in Asia, by the end of this decade, the gap between Hong Kong and Switzerland in cross-border wealth management will widen to nearly $600 billion.

The logic of asset allocation for wealthy global clients is undergoing profound changes. Capital flows are no longer primarily centered around tax optimization or corporate structure arrangements, but are increasingly shifting towards diversification of jurisdictions to mitigate the impact brought about by geopolitical tensions, sanction risks, and political instability. Michael Pellman Rowland from Switzerland's independent wealth management firm Baseline Wealth Management expressed:

“This is a completely new phenomenon; I have never seen anything like it.”

He points out that wealthy clients used to transfer funds to offshore markets primarily for tax planning or corporate structure arrangements. However,

This trend of diversification has, in turn, reinforced the position of large cross-border wealth "accounting centers." BCG partner Michael Kahlich believes that the global banking services network for international clients is bifurcating into two major axes: an Asian network centered on Hong Kong and Singapore, and a Western network composed of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

Switzerland Has Not Lost All of Its Attraction

Nevertheless,Switzerland has not entirely lost its edge. Bankers say that many wealthy Asian clients still prefer their assets to be ultimately accounted for in Switzerland. Several large international banks and Swiss private banks have established main accounting centers in Hong Kong and Singapore to better capture the growth of Asian wealth.

However, whether Switzerland is actively defending its position as a wealth management center has raised questions within the banking industry. A UBS banker based in Zurich stated:

“The question is whether Switzerland is actively defending its position, or simply relying on its inherent stability and reputation. I believe it's the latter.”

Meanwhile, emerging centers like Dubai have rapidly risen after the pandemic, becoming an important bridge connecting the pools of capital between the East and West. BCG data shows that the UAE's cross-border wealth management scale reached $72.1 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 11%, but the overall volume is still far below that of Hong Kong and Switzerland. Singapore also benefits from the global trend of capital moving eastward, but after high-profile money laundering cases, it has strengthened regulation and tightened scrutiny of wealthy foreign clients, leading to a significant slowdown in growth.