New BCG report finds AI and geopolitical fragmentation reshaping the wealth management industry at an accelerating pace
Global financial wealth surged 10.7% to $333 trillion in 2025, the fastest growth rate since 2021, as investors navigated trade wars, tariff brinkmanship, and rising geopolitical tensions, according to Boston Consulting Group's 26th annual Global Wealth Report released Wednesday.
Equities climbed 13.2% while real assets expanded 7.4%, constrained by high prices and rising supply across major developed markets.
But gold was the standout performer, rising roughly 44% as central banks accumulated reserves amid deepening unease about reserve currency stability. BCG projects financial wealth to grow at a 7% compound annual rate through 2030, though that outlook assumes geopolitical tensions and energy disruptions ease in the second half of 2026.
Hong Kong
The headline geographic shift of the year was Hong Kong overtaking Switzerland as the world's largest cross-border booking center for the first time, with both hubs holding $2.9 trillion in cross-border assets at year-end.
Hong Kong's ascent was driven by mainland China flows, which represent more than 60% of its assets under management, alongside a vigorous stock market that delivered strong IPO activity and gains in benchmark-heavy internet platforms.
"We are seeing wealth creation, cross-border capital flows, and investment ecosystems increasingly concentrate into a smaller number of globally connected hubs," said Michael Kahlich, a BCG managing director and partner and co-author of the report. "Hong Kong's rise reflects the growing gravitational pull of Asian wealth and capital markets."
BCG projects Hong Kong to grow at roughly 9% annually through 2030, though its trajectory remains tightly bound to economic and regulatory conditions on the mainland.
Switzerland, growing 7.6%, draws its client base primarily from Western European markets. That more measured positioning may prove advantageous as geopolitical uncertainty reinforces the country's role as a global safe haven, pulling flight-to-safety flows from more volatile regions including the Middle East.
Hub networks
The broader cross-border picture reflects an industry hardening into two distinct hub networks.
One is anchored by Hong Kong and Singapore, serving mainland Chinese, Indian, and Southeast Asian capital. The other runs through Switzerland, the US, and the UK, serving European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American wealth.
Cross-border flows overall rose 8.4% to $15.7 trillion, with the top ten booking centers capturing nearly 90% of new inflows.
Singapore, positioned as the most diversified wealth hub in Asia, attracted more than 2,000 single family offices and over 100 independent wealth management firms. Its cross-border assets rose 10.3% and are expected to grow at around 9% annually through 2030. The UAE was among the fastest-growing booking centers globally, with cross-border wealth rising 11.1% in 2025, though near-term risks remain elevated given regional tensions.
The UK, by contrast, is losing ground. Cross-border wealth there grew 7.0% to roughly $1 trillion in 2025, but changes to non-domicile and inheritance tax regimes are redirecting high-net-worth outflows, and BCG expects growth to slow to around 5% annually through the end of the decade.
Regional wealth growth varied considerably. Western Europe posted the strongest major-market advance at 15.3%, supported by favorable currency movements and a persistently high household savings rate. Mainland China's financial wealth rose 15% and is projected to grow at 9% annually through 2030. North America slowed to 7.4%, with gains concentrated in a narrow group of mega-cap technology stocks.
Emerging markets
Emerging markets represent one of the report's central themes.
BCG projects those economies to add nearly $7 trillion in financial wealth and account for roughly 10% of global wealth growth through 2030, excluding China. India leads the group, expected to add more than $2 trillion in total wealth by 2030, followed by Brazil at $1 trillion and Mexico at $600 billion.
The affluent-and-above segment (individuals with more than $250,000 in financial wealth) is forecast to grow 8% annually across these markets, creating more than one million new millionaires by the end of the decade.
International wealth managers have largely pulled back from serving that segment, concentrating their attention on clients with $5 million and above as compliance costs rise and cross-border requirements tighten.
Local banks have the customer relationships and distribution reach to fill the gap but have been slow to build the investment products and advisory infrastructure the segment demands. Frontline staff in many emerging market banks remain incentivized around deposit collection, with little structural motivation to shift client savings into investments.
BCG's research suggests retail banks that successfully build wealth management propositions in these markets could accelerate fee revenue growth by more than 50% over five years.
Challenge for wealth management
Asia's wealth management industry faces a separate and more immediate structural challenge: a generational transition with few historical parallels.
Across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, 40% to 50% of major enterprises remain under founder leadership, with median leadership ages above 70. BCG estimates that roughly 70% of Asian family enterprises remain in the first two stages of wealth governance, meaning either entirely founder-centric with no formal succession plan, or held together by informal relationships without documented ownership structures.
"Families are increasingly confronting succession as a design challenge rather than a single transfer event," Kahlich said. "The firms that can help clients navigate governance, intergenerational alignment, and long-term wealth structures will define the next era of wealth management in Asia."
AI impact
The fourth dimension BCG examines is artificial intelligence. A single product announcement by a US tech startup earlier this year wiped more than $140 billion off the market value of a handful of publicly traded wealth managers — a development the report describes as a signal that investors now view AI as a structural force in the industry rather than an incremental productivity tool. AI is already drafting financial plans, automating compliance documentation, and executing complex workflows with minimal human intervention, BCG found.
The firm's modeling suggests AI-first wealth managers could unlock 25% to 30% capacity in planning, portfolio management, and servicing, while lifting revenue per advisor by 15% to 20%. The more likely near-term scenario, BCG argues, is disruption rather than full displacement of the human advisor, with firms that redesign workflows end-to-end around AI agents capturing the largest efficiency gains.
"AI is no longer a productivity side story for wealth management," Kahlich said. "The firms moving earliest are redesigning advisory models, client servicing, and operations end to end. The gap between AI-first firms and traditional operating models could widen very quickly."
