Why the Ultra-Wealthy Are No Longer Choosing Just One Financial Hub

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0:00For decades, the world's wealthy operated by a simple rule. Pick your safe haven and stay there.

0:06These hubs have classically included the likes of Switzerland, the US, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

0:12Hong Kong's capital market has been very active recently.

0:15For Singapore, it's obvious there's a strong rule of law. There's political stability.

0:20They want to conduct businesses in a place where the legal system is very, very clear.

0:25From the turn of the century, other fast-rising hubs began attracting

0:28the super-rich as residents including Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Milan and Dubai.

0:34Dubai has always been seen as an emerging and promising wealth hub.

0:38It has very friendly features in terms of attracting wealth. So it's

0:43very internationally connected. It has very high tax efficiency.

0:47But the wealthy are no longer relying on one place to live,

0:51invest, and do business. The one-hub model is giving way to something more strategic.

0:56High net worth individuals are thinking twice because they may not want to put their monies

1:02or their eggs in a single basket and they are more thinking of diversification now.

1:06Wealthy people know very well the concept of having an investment portfolio. If you're a

1:13high net worth individual, you don't have all your money or all your wealth sitting in only one asset

1:18class. Just having one country of citizenship and residence means you are also limiting yourself to

1:24that jurisdiction and whatever risks that may present. They are understanding a lot more the

1:29benefits of actually being more diversified in terms of their "sovereign portfolio".

1:35In a blog post, Volek explains that the ultra-wealthy are no longer just looking

1:39for returns. They are seeking resilience through so-called "geographic arbitrage".

1:44Think of a "sovereign portfolio" as a safety net and opportunity

1:47engine - but built on residences and citizenship instead of stocks and bonds.

1:52You know, there's nothing stopping a high net worth individual from getting residence

1:56in Costa Rica, residence or citizenship in Europe, perhaps a golden visa here in the UAE,

2:03next to having residence or citizenship somewhere in Asia. That's what these

2:07families are doing as an optionality play or insurance policy more than anything else.

2:12That diversification is showing up in hard numbers.

2:15A survey by global asset servicer Ocorian found that 60% of their family offices

2:22have opened more offices in different jurisdictions over the past 5 years.

2:27And around 40% of them now have four or more physical locations worldwide.

2:33Part of it is sheer portfolio complexity. Alternatives like private equity, private credit,

2:39real estate, infrastructure now make up 42% of the average family office portfolio, according

2:45to BlackRock's 2025 Global Family Office Report. Assets that complex don't sit neatly in one place.

2:52For wealthy families, usually they will have set up in multiple locations,

2:58right? Moving assets around jurisdiction are not

3:00very difficult. It's more like how the how the structure should be arranged.

3:05Regulatory change is accelerating it further. For example, when the UK replaced its century old

3:11non-domicile tax regime with a residence-based system last year, the reaction was swift.

3:17Henley & Partners projected the UK would lose around 16,500 millionaires in 2025,

3:23taking roughly $88 billion dollars in wealth with them in a single year.

3:28And then there's geopolitics, no longer a background concern.

3:32Goldman Sachs found that 61% of family offices now

3:36cite geopolitical conflict as a primary risk to their portfolios.

3:40We have seen upside in terms of a shift in mindset where clients are actually thinking

3:45of where they are looking to have upside and efficiency and you have seen the narrative

3:50change towards one where I want somewhere its resilient. I want somewhere where its safe.

3:55When you park your wealth in a jurisdiction, you want capital preservation, right? So,

4:00in terms of wealth domicile, you typically want somewhere where it's

4:04very safe and where you think you can grow your wealth in the jurisdiction.

4:09The clients actually are thinking about how their structure should be arranged across jurisdictions

4:14so they can have the flexibility which is a more strategic decision rather than a quick reaction.

4:20It's not about Dubai versus Hong Kong and Singapore. For the business owners,

4:26they are more likely thinking about which hubs to play what roles. It's about diversification.