Investors tracking Singapore cross-border wealth flows have fresh evidence of how fast the landscape is shifting. The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025 projects that a record 142,000 high-net-worth individuals will relocate globally in 2025, with Parag Khanna of AlphaGeo noting in the same report that Singapore is solidifying its reputation as a global wealth haven. The city-state was on course to add 1,600 new millionaires last year, and Henley & Partners forecasts a further surge to 165,000 millionaire relocations worldwide in 2026.
Singapore Cross-Border Wealth and the Two-Hub World
The scale of money moving across borders gives that migration context its weight. According to BCG’s Global Wealth Report 2026, global cross-border wealth rose 8.4% to USD 15.7 trillion in 2025, with the top ten booking centres capturing almost 90% of new offshore flows.
In a shift with direct implications for Singapore, BCG’s report found that Hong Kong surpassed Switzerland for the first time to become the world’s largest cross-border wealth booking centre, with assets rising 10.7% to USD 2.9 trillion, driven by mainland China inflows and equity-market gains. Oliver Wyman had previously forecast that Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore together would capture nearly two-thirds of new inflows through 2029. BCG’s analysis now points to two emerging hub networks: one anchored by Hong Kong and Singapore, serving mainland Chinese, Indian and Southeast Asian capital; and a second centred on Switzerland, the US and the UK, serving European, Middle Eastern and Latin American wealth.
Both Hong Kong and Singapore are projected to grow their cross-border books at around 9% annually through 2030, according to NBC News citing BCG data. For Singapore, that growth trajectory depends on the quality of service it offers rather than geography alone.
Two Kinds of Client, Two Sets of Needs
Simon Hopkins, managing partner at East West Private Wealth, identifies two distinct client types arriving in Singapore. The first group is already sophisticated, with advisors and structures in place to route wealth into Singapore-based repositories. ‘These could include family office arrangements under the enhanced tier fund tax incentive of section 13U or the Singapore resident fund scheme,’ Hopkins says, referring to the statutory provisions under the Singapore Income Tax Act.
A note on those structures: the snippet refers to ‘section 130,’ but the correct statutory reference is Section 13O, the Singapore Resident Fund Scheme. Under Monetary Authority of Singapore guidelines, a Section 13O fund must be incorporated and tax-resident in Singapore, hold a minimum AUM (assets under management, the total value of investments overseen) of S$50 million at application, and employ at least two investment professionals. Section 13U, which covers enhanced-tier incentives, is available to onshore and offshore funds alike, including trusts, limited partnerships, and umbrella variable capital companies, subject to MAS approval, according to Trident Trust.
The second client group is less structured on arrival. These are entrepreneurs and inheritors who want global investment access and connections that traditional single-family offices cannot deliver. This demand has accelerated the growth of a newer multi-family office model, where principals manage their own capital alongside clients and charge fees unlinked to asset turnover.
Structures, Succession and the Next Generation
Across both client types, Polka Mishra, partner at Javelin Wealth Management, sees consistent priorities. ‘Priorities are anchored around capital preservation, liquidity planning and estate planning,’ she says. In volatile markets, clients want enough liquid assets (those readily convertible to cash without a large price impact) to cover planned needs such as retirement, while preserving room to act on unplanned opportunities.
Succession planning sits alongside that. Mahesh Sethuraman, CEO of Saxo Singapore, notes a strong preference for portable structures, including trusts, variable capital companies and family offices, that can transfer wealth across generations without fragmentation. Most clients adopt a core-and-satellite approach: a stable core positioned for capital preservation and steady returns, with a satellite allocation hunting for higher growth.
The Henley report’s domicile diversification analysis adds a structural dimension to that picture. Centi-millionaires, defined as individuals with investable wealth of USD 100 million or more, are increasingly building residential footprints across multiple jurisdictions as a deliberate hedge against systemic exposure in any single country.
Henry Shin, CEO at WRISE Prestige Hong Kong, frames the advisory challenge this way: wealth is often created in one jurisdiction, deployed across several others, and ultimately transferred to beneficiaries who may be resident or hold citizenship elsewhere. ‘This creates a constant interplay between regulatory regimes, tax exposures and legal frameworks that cannot be addressed in isolation,’ he says.
What Comes Next for Singapore’s Wealth Hub
Mishra points to a major intergenerational wealth transfer already under way across Asia, requiring structures robust enough for succession, governance and the different expectations of younger inheritors. Sethuraman adds that geopolitical pressure, including the ripple effects of the Iran war, has made the custodial jurisdiction of assets a dominant client conversation. ‘Demand for diversification has never been greater,’ he concludes, with Singapore’s rule of law, political neutrality and stability placing it firmly in that conversation.
The critical test for Singapore’s wealth industry over the next few years will be whether it can deliver the integrated, multi-jurisdictional service model that clients are demanding, rather than the high-commission product pushing that Hopkins identifies as a persistent temptation for service providers.
