UK cross-border wealth rises by 7%; growth expected to slow amid tax changes

UK cross-border wealth increased by 7 per cent year-on-year to around $1trn in 2025, although growth is expected to slow following changes to the non-dom and inheritance tax (IHT) regimes, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

BCG’s 2026 Global Wealth Report forecast that these tax changes would reduce cross-border wealth growth in the UK to around 5 per cent a year through to 2030.

Despite this, the UK was still described as one of the ‘anchors’ of the hub network serving European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American wealth, alongside Switzerland and the US.

Global financial wealth increased by 10.7 per cent to $333trn in 2025, an increase of 2 percentage points on the previous year and the highest growth rate since 2021.

Including real assets, global net wealth increased by 9.3 per cent over the year to £550trn.

Gains were not evenly distributed, with equities rising by 13.2 per cent while real assets grew by 7.4 per cent.

Global financial wealth was forecast to increase at a 7 per cent compound rate through to 2030, although the pace of gains assumed an easing of geopolitical tensions and energy disruptions in the second half of 2026.

Meanwhile, global cross-border wealth rose by 8.4 per cent to $15.7trn in 2025, with the top 10 booking centres accounting for almost 90 per cent of new flows.

Hong Kong overtook Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub, driven by mainland China flows and strong stock market performance, with $2.9trn in cross-border wealth.

Switzerland was the second largest cross-border wealth hub, followed by Singapore in third and the US in fourth.

The UK mainland was the fifth largest cross-border wealth hub with $1trn of cross-border wealth, projected to rise to $1.3trn by 2030, while the Channel Islands and Isle of Man came in sixth with $0.8trn of cross-border wealth that was forecast to increase to $1trn by 2030.

“Global financial wealth is expanding, but 2025 revealed a widening divide between regions generating wealth at scale through deep capital markets and those held back by policy uncertainty or weak economic fundamentals,” the report stated.

“Western Europe was the year’s positive surprise, rising 15.3 per cent. This growth was supported by favourable currency movements and a persistently high household savings rate.

“Underlying equity market performance remained modest, driven by weaker economic momentum and limited exposure to high-growth sectors.

“Over the next five years, wealth creation in the region is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5 per cent.”

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