“In our business wealth management and private banking Switzerland will remain the No. 1 location worldwide,” said EFG
International AG’s chief executive officer Giorgio Pradelli in a Bloomberg TV interview on Friday.
The bank bosses’ thoughts came before 78% of voters in the alpine nation undeniably rejected a proposal to impose a new
national tax on inheritances or gifts of more than 50 million francs ($62 million U.S. dollars).
With that money, those revenues were planned to fund the impact of climate change and combat wealth inequality. The tax
would affect about 2,500 people in Switzerland, a small fraction of its population of about 9 million people.
But that tiny faction of people holds a lot of leverage. The top 300 wealthiest residents are worth a combined 850 Swiss
francs (or just over $1 trillion). In a report that measured millionaires per capita, Switzerland led globally with
about 145 millionaires per 1,000 adults—meaning roughly one in seven Swiss adults is a millionaire. And Pradelli doesn’t
see its status as home to the wealthy changing anytime soon.
“I have been bullish about the Swiss financial center also in years when many people were even more pessimistic than
Millionaire migration is reaching record levels
Even with the tax not passing, Switzerland has faced increasing competition from other billionaire havens in the Middle
East and Asia. To enjoy the fruits of their fortune, the world’s wealthiest favor migrating toward cities with tax perks
and investor-friendly options.
A record number of roughly 142,000 millionaires were expected to relocate globally in 2025, according to the Henley
Private Wealth Migration Report. That forecast for millionaires moving is looking to grow to 162,000 by 2026.
The country gaining the most millionaires was the United Arab Emirates, followed by the United States, Italy, and then
Switzerland at number four.
The reason for the UAE leading the charts: zero income tax, world-class infrastructure, political stability, and
regulatory framework. In addition, its 2019 Golden Visa program, refined in 2022, “has created a compelling
proposition,” according to reports from Business Insider.
The United States attracted millionaires looking for Florida and Silicon Valley to keep the top spot for tech