Geopolitical uncertainty has prompted the move of global wealth. Intensifying the power struggle within the China Communist Party (CCP), the crackdown on democracy and human rights in Hong Kong have turned both places into a region with a large outflow of tycoons.
It is projected that the net outflow of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the world this year would be the highest in Russia and mainland China, both exceeding 10,000, Hong Kong would rank number four with 3,000 and India would be the third, according to the latest “Henley Global Citizenship Report” released by Henley & Partners, a global migration and investment consulting firm on June 13, 2022.
In 2021, more than 100,000 Hong Kong citizens, mainly the HNWI and bankers, left Hong Kong with British National Overseas (BNO) visas to the UK.
According to the latest figures released by the Home Office of the UK at the end of May, a total of 19,500 people applied for BNO visas in the Q1 of this year, with a 25 percent increase from the Q4 of last year, bringing the total number of BNO applications to 123,400 of which 113,742 have been approved.
Based on the immigration data of the HNWI of persons with wealth of more than US$1 million in the first half of this year, the company calculated the figures for this year that Russia, which launched the war of aggression against Ukraine for more than 4 months, would have an outflow of 15,000 millionaires, accounting for 15 percent of the total number of HNWI in Russia. The figure would be 9,500 more than that in 2019, before the pandemic. Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, the data for 2020 and 2021 were not comparable.
According to the report’s projection, there will be a net outflow of 10,000 millionaires from China this year.
The firm saw a sharp rise in investor migration inquires from East Asia in the Q1 of this year, about 57 percent coming from China, followed by Hong Kong.
However, not so many of these rich men went to the United States, and the number was much lower than that in 2019 before the pandemic.
A net inflow of only 1,500 millionaires to the U.S. was recorded this year, compared with 10,800 in 2019, according to the statistics reported by a former BBC reporter Misha Glenny.
He believed that this might be due to the “political unpredictability” of the midterm elections in November.
Singapore, another financial center in Asia, has benefited from the departure of Hong Kong’s richest people. The country has recorded a net inflow of 2,800 millionaires this year, with an increase of 1,300 from 1,500 in 2019.
Glenney believed that the CCP’s “repression of Hong Kong” forced Hong Kong’s millionaires to flee.
In addition, the Hong Kong International Immigration and Property Expo, which closed on June 11, attracted 47,000 visitors in two days, surpassing 33,000 at the expo last year, with an increase of 40 percent.
According to a survey of more than 35,000 visitors who registered online from April to June, conducted by the organizer, most of them are middle-class and wealthy families. About 66 percent have assets over US$1 million, 17 percent have assets over US$6.4 million and 30 percent have a monthly household income of about US$20,000.
Nearly 80 percent of the respondents said that they have shortened the preparation time for emigration to two years or even half a year, while the preparation time in the past was generally around five years.
