Hong Kong has done it again! It has knocked Switzerland off its perch for the top spot as the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub. But the irony is that Hong Kong has no borders while Switzerland has four with neighbouring countries: Germany, France, Italy and Austria..
The boost to Hong Kong’s international financial status came from an initial public offering (IPO) bonanza and capital inflows from China’s mainland, which shares a boundary with Hong Kong. Countries share borders with neighbouring countries but technically share boundaries with counties or provenances within the country. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China with a high degree of autonomy. For example, both have different currencies, legal systems etc.
That very fine distinction was overlooked by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) when analysing cross-border wealth distribution. BCG is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963. It is one of the "Big Three" (also known as "MBB", representing the first initials of world's three largest management consulting firms by revenue) along with McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company.
The BCG report revealed that Hong Kong's cross-border wealth management assets reached US$2.95 trillion — a 10.7 per cent year-on-year surge. That figure edged past Switzerland's US$2.94 trillion by about US$10 billion, making Hong Kong the world's largest cross-border wealth management center for the first time.
BCG projects that cross-border wealth managed in Hong Kong will grow at roughly 9 per cent annually between 2025 and 2030, compared to only about 6 per cent for Switzerland. Bloomberg goes further. By 2030, the gap in assets under management between the two centers is forecast to widen to about US$600 billion. Today's slim lead is not a finish line — it is the opening lap of a far larger structural shift, said Bloomberg, indicating that the financial future for Hong Kong appears robust.
Last year, Hong Kong reclaimed the global IPO crown for the first time since 2019, with 114 listings raising US$37.2 billion.
The city retained pole position as the world’s largest IPO market by proceeds in the first quarter of this year. A total of 37 companies raised about US$13.26 billion on the Hong Kong stock exchange’s (HKEX) main board in the three months to March 31, representing a 453 per cent increase from a year earlier.
About 500 listing candidates, most of which were mainland-based, are now waiting to raise funds in the city, up from 300 at the end of last year, according to HKEX.
The BCG report received wide international coverage including the Financial Times, Reuters, Associated Press and Canada’s National Post all noting that the surge in capital flow into Hong Kong helped topple Switzerland’s long-standing status as the traditional safe haven.
Across this international media coverage, one competitive advantage of Hong Kong was repeatedly emphasized — its connectivity function under "One Country, Two Systems." The Associated Press highlighted how Hong Kong's close ties with the mainland market have driven its wealth management business. Reuters likewise noted that Hong Kong "is cementing its role as China's gateway to global markets."
The current trade mission to Central Asia by a 60-member strong delegation from the mainland and Hong Kong led by Chief Executive John Lee is indicative of the aggressive nature the city is taking to maintain its ranking as the world’s top financial hub. Besides businessmen and women in the delegation drumming up partnerships between Central and East Asia, there is a bevy of financiers with deep pockets willing to invest in new proposals. Representatives of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is also there promoting the bourse’s advantages for primary and secondary listings. This and future trade missions will surely broaden Hong Kong’s global client base while consolidating its role as China's gateway.
Mark Pinkstone
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
It is said that sport promotes a healthy body, a healthy mind…and a healthy economy. In Hong Kong’s case that is worth about HK$51 billion (US$6.5 billion), or 1.5 per cent of our $3.4 trillion (US$ 434.2 billion) gross domestic product.
On top of that, it provides for about 84,000 jobs, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department.
Already Hong Kong draws on a fine reputation for hosting international sporting events, such as the Rugby Sevens, ATP and WTA tennis championships, the LIV golf tournament, equestrian events, snooker championships to name just a few. Every month The Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s calendar is filled with sporting events, both local and international, to keep sporting facilities fully booked.
Due to its high class sports facilities, low tax regime, location as the center of Asia and lifestyle appeal, Hong Kong has attracted super stars like snooker champions Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Jimmy White to take up residence here under the government’s Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). The Scheme is designed to attract highly skilled or talented persons to settle in Hong Kong to enhance the city's economic competitiveness. Applicants are not required to have secured an offer of local employment before applying for entry or being admitted to Hong Kong for settlement under the Scheme. Accordingly, the trend is continuing as high-profile figures continue to join the city's registry. More than 100 active and retired international athletes have relocated to Hong Kong under these programs in recent years, and officials continue to process applications from prominent global sports icons.
A number of sports events in Hong Kong have been given an “M” (for Mega) ranking by the Major Sports Events Committee for their ability to draw in large international followers, thus adding to the city’s tourism coffers. The ranking is for world-level events and goes with dollar-for-dollar matching grants from the government with funding based entirely on the event’s quality, media coverage and economic tourism potential.
Events which have received the “M” rating, and thus government financial support, includes the ATP and WTA tennis tournaments, rapid and blitz chess championships, international dragon boat races, volleyball nations league, the international invitation horse racing event, fencing world championships and, of course, the famed Rugby Sevens, Rugby Sevens which last year generated some HK$780 million (US $100 million) to the city’s economy.
All “M” events are a magnet for drawing foreign visitors to Hong Kong. For example, the Rugby Sevens earlier this year drew in about 150,000 foreign visitors and rising Filipina tennis star Alex Eala, who has taken the US open by storm, filled the 15,000 seat Wimbledon Centre Court with her fans, many of whom are expected to follow her to Hong Kong for the Prudential WTA Open in November.
Hong Kong’s HK$30 billion Kai Tak Sports Park with its 50,000-seat stadium drew 2.4 million spectators in its first year of operation. The main stadium is built to serve as a multi-purpose mega-venue. Overcoming Hong Kong's unpredictable summer weather it is equipped with a retractable roof and advanced climate control, to host premier sports tournaments alongside massive pop concerts.
Hong Kong’s role in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) provides an ideal opportunity for greater interplay between the nine cities in Guangdong and the Special Economic Zones of Hong Kong and Macao. Prime examples would be the 15th National Games and historic cross-border marathons and cycling races, where athletes seamlessly travel across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The lead for cross-border sport is being taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has made major proposals in our first Five Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, by transforming the GBA into an international equestrian and equine sports hub.
The club envisions a seamless multi-destination racing tourism circuit that links its world-class facilities in Sha Tin and Happy Valley with the Conghua Racecourse in Guangzhou. To further solidify this ecosystem, the proposals suggest expanding Hong Kong's successful disease-free zone management and biosecurity protocols to other regions in the mainland, such as Xinjiang.
Under this equine hub framework, the club also advocates establishing a World Organization for Animal Health collaboration center in Hong Kong and advancing institutional connectivity by expanding the mutual recognition of veterinary qualifications across the border.
Both the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area gives a fresh impetus to the development of the tourism industry within the GBA. With the platform of the Tourism Federation of Cities in the GBA, the Tourism Commission has been actively fostering co-operation with the tourism authorities of the Macao Special Administrative Region and the nine Chinese Mainland cities in the GBA in developing more “multi-destination” tourism products.
As the consultation scope of the Five-Year Plan has been wide to incorporate most of Hong Kong’s society, tourism leaders including event organizers, travel agents, hotels and airlines have been promoting an integrated culture-sports-tourism synergy as a total package in fostering tourism to Hong Kong.
By working together as an industry and with our neighbors, Hong Kong becomes an even more attractive sports destination offering packages for foreign visitors to stay longer in this Pearl of the Orient.
