Money moving to Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE and Hong Kong together will hold as much overseas wealth as Switzerland in four years’ time, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group.

The finding underscores the boom in private wealth in the Asia Pacific region as well as the impact on Switzerland from the clampdown on tax evasion after the financial crisis.

Banks in Switzerland stored $2.4-trillion (about R31-trillion) in offshore riches in 2016, the highest in the world, the group wrote in its annual global wealth report published this week.

It expects this number to rise to $2.8-trillion by 2021.

However, Singapore and Hong Kong together are on track to match Switzerland’s expected 2021 total thanks to their proximity to Asia Pacific’s swelling population of millionaires and billionaires, the group said.

In 2016, Singapore had $1.2-trillion and Hong Kong $800-billion in offshore wealth.

“Switzerland remained the largest offshore centre with a 24% share,” the group wrote in its report, “but that share is projected to decline through 2021.” Major Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse have made pushes to expand in Asia Pacific and are the region’s biggest and thirdbiggest private banks respectively, according to Asian Private Banker. —