Hong Kong has surpassed Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth-management center for the first time, driven by a surge of investment from mainland China, according to a new report by the Financial Times.

Wealth managers in the Chinese territory booked $2.9 trillion in international assets in 2025, with approximately 60 percent originating from mainland China, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates cited by the FT. BCG forecast that the gap between Hong Kong and Switzerland would widen to nearly $600 billion by the end of the decade, fueled by rapid growth in Asian fortunes.

The shift reflects both China-specific factors and broader changes in how wealthy individuals manage their money globally, the newspaper said. China’s equity capital markets activity in Hong Kong and its manufacturing dominance in sectors including electric vehicles have bolstered inflows, while clients more broadly are seeking to spread assets across multiple jurisdictions to hedge against geopolitical tensions, sanctions risks, and political instability.

Wealthy clients moving money offshore had traditionally been motivated by tax planning or corporate structuring, but since the pandemic had increasingly pursued what he described as jurisdictional diversification, Michael Pellman Rowland of Baseline Wealth Management, a Swiss-based independent manager, told the FT. 

“This is a completely new phenomenon. I haven’t seen anything like it,” he said in the report.

BCG partner Michael Kahlich told the FT that two rival networks of wealth hubs are now emerging: Hong Kong and Singapore anchoring one axis in Asia, and Switzerland, the UAE, and the United States forming a western counterpart.

Switzerland retains advantages, with many wealthy Asian clients still preferring to have assets ultimately booked there, and the country remaining more heavily tied to mature western European fortunes. But questions have emerged about its competitive position. A Zurich-based UBS banker told the FT that Switzerland appeared to be relying on its reputation for stability rather than actively defending its wealth management position, amid tensions between UBS and Swiss regulators over capital requirements.