{"id":78734,"date":"2026-06-06T14:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/78734\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T14:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:46:18","slug":"overtaken-by-hong-kong-in-global-wealth-management-swiss-keep-cool-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/78734\/","title":{"rendered":"Overtaken by Hong Kong in global wealth management, Swiss keep cool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland as the number one in cross-border wealth management, rather than enter panic mode, Swiss banks seem unruffled \u2014 feeling it bolsters the case against looming tighter banking regulations.<\/p>\n

\"FinancialFinancial Secretary Paul Chan holding a press conference after presenting the budget address on February 25, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong is now the world\u2019s largest cross-border booking centre thanks to inflows from mainland China, strong initial public offering activity, and equity market gains, said a study published last week by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).<\/p>\n

Hong Kong had US$2.95 trillion of cross-border assets under management in 2025, while Switzerland had US$2.946 trillion.<\/p>\n

Rapid advances in technology innovation and artificial intelligence sectors are \u201cexpected to open up greater scope for development within Hong Kong\u2019s asset and wealth management industry\u201d, said the semi-autonomous Chinese city\u2019s Financial Secretary Paul Chan.<\/p>\n

More than 60 percent of the external capital comes from mainland China, the BCG 2026 Global Wealth Report said, adding that Hong Kong was \u201ccementing its role as China\u2019s gateway to global markets\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncertainties around US-China tensions are the main reason they are moving capital and managing wealth in Hong Kong,\u201d Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking, told AFP.<\/p>\n

However, China\u2019s market regulator announced a sweeping investigation in May against some brokers running cross-border trading, as it launched a two-year crackdown on investment leaving the mainland.<\/p>\n

On Monday, China\u2019s cabinet unveiled new rules due to enter force in July, aimed at curbing outbound investment and deals with foreign entities which might transfer restricted technology, services and data overseas without authorisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors engaging in foreign investment and related activities\u2026 shall not endanger China\u2019s national security or harm national interests,\u201d authorities said.<\/p>\n

\"China'sChina\u2019s national flags and Hong Kong flags are displayed in the city on September 30, 2025, a day before the 76th anniversary of the People\u2019s Republic of China. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Ng noted that if Beijing \u201ctruly wants to accelerate\u201d the internationalisation of China\u2019s yuan currency, \u201cit will need to accept freer cross-border capital movement\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tougher Swiss regulations planned <\/p>\n

The Swiss Bankers Association told AFP that Hong Kong had been directly benefiting from exceptionally strong asset growth in China.<\/p>\n

But it said Swiss banks too had a successful presence in key Asian growth markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Switzerland, competitive framework conditions are particularly crucial for the future. It is essential that regulation remains targeted and internationally coordinated so that both stability and competitiveness are strengthened,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s biggest bank UBS is currently at loggerheads with the government, which wants to tighten banking regulations following the implosion of Credit Suisse in 2023.<\/p>\n

UBS was strongarmed into a quickfire takeover of its closest domestic rival to prevent a major blow to Switzerland\u2019s financial stability.<\/p>\n

Bern now wants stronger safeguards, given the merged megabank\u2019s size relative to the Swiss economy.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong overtaking Switzerland \u201cshows that international competitiveness must remain at the heart of the discussions,\u201d the Association of Swiss Private Banks, which represents wealth management firms, told AFP.<\/p>\n

During debates on the government\u2019s proposals, \u201cparliament will have to keep this in mind\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Playing half the game\u2019<\/p>\n

Andreas Venditti, an analyst with Swiss investment managers Vontobel, said Hong Kong\u2019s rise to the top had been coming because growth rates were stronger in Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Swiss banks are among the largest wealth managers in Asia \u2014 with UBS the largest in the region by very far \u2014 they clearly benefit from the higher growth rates,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n

UBS\u2019s assets under management in the Asia-Pacific region amounted to US$781 billion at the end of March, he noted.<\/p>\n

\"Zurich,Zurich, Switzerland in 2024. File photo: Tom Grundy\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Cross-border wealth grew by 10.7 percent in Hong Kong in 2025, compared to 7.6 percent in Switzerland, said BCG.<\/p>\n

Dean Frankle, a managing director and financial institutions specialist at BCG, said Hong Kong overtaking Switzerland is primarily down to \u201cthe rise of Asia\u201d.<\/p>\n

For wealthy Asian clients, \u201cwhy would you go to Europe\u201d when Hong Kong is \u201cat your doorstep\u201d, he said, hence the importance for Swiss banks to be competitive in the Asian market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not serving both markets, you\u2019re only playing half the game,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n

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Type of Story: News Service<\/p>\n

Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to high journalistic standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland as the number one in cross-border wealth management, rather than enter panic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1380,40992,41,17,223],"class_list":["post-78734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-afp","tag-paul-chan","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland","tag-ubs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116703709786368748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}