Latest news with #HenleyAndPartners
CNA
14 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - New US$15,000 visa bond: What to know about travel visa and its significance
Following the US' announcement that bonds of up to US$15,000 for some tourist and business visas could be required under a pilot programme, Hairianto Diman and Susan Ng find out more about travel visas and their significance in today's highly inter-connected world from Scott Moore, Managing Director, Henley and Partners
The National
04-08-2025
- Business
- The National
The UK is losing its millionaires, even if it's not sure how many
One of the hidden traps in dealing with British markets is that the basic set-up is seldom as straightforward as it appears. That is becoming more apparent every day in the fraught debate over a reported billionaire exodus. This phenomenon was first triggered by Brexit, compounded by the Ukraine war and then moved into overdrive by the targeting of non-domiciled tax residents, followed by the abolition of the advantageous status altogether. There are no good figures in this trend. Where there are statistics, these are overlapping and incomplete. In recent weeks, a number of analysts have started to conclude that the rush to the exits is overblown and quite possibly largely bunkum. Something is definitely going on that appears to sum up the UK's decline as an attractive economy, but its impact may not be that easy to properly gauge. The golden passport firm Henley and Partners predicted that 16,500 people would quit the UK this year alone. The non-domiciled population in the UK was 74,000 when the advantageous status was abolished. Official budget planners expected a quarter of that number to quit the UK as a result of the changes, which is just over 18,000. Surveys then suggested that this exodus was being boosted by a large chunk of the country's dollar millionaires. Prominent leavers reportedly included Nassef Sawiris, the Egyptian tycoon; Shravin Bharti Mittal, the Indian businessman; John Fredriksen, the Cypriot shipping magnate; and Richard Gnodde, the South African-born vice president of Goldman Sachs. Mr Fredriksen, who told a Norwegian newspaper that Britain had 'gone to hell', was said to be putting his £250 million ($332 million) Chelsea mansion – The Old Rectory – on the market. In truth, the 'hell' that matters is the budget deficit. Much like US President Donald Trump and his tariffs raid, the UK government is searching for novel areas to tax in order to make up the fiscal gap. The governing Labour party has clearly decided that a form of wealth taxation is its way of plugging a shortfall that seems only likely to widen as AI is brought into the economy. The missing figure that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appears to be aiming for is $45 billion annually. A modern, mobile population has options. They can move themselves, their asset base and ultimately their investment income out of the country. The report for Henley and Partners faced debunking last week from the lawyer Dan Neidle, for putting the total number of UK dollar millionaires at about 578,000. Its figures relied on the scraping of social media and other inventive data capture techniques to get the numbers it reported. However, the UK's Office for National Statistics suggests that the number in its surveys is about 300,000. And that is part of the problem: the state is using surveys, too. The UK system has no way of knowing how many millionaires are in the country. The government cannot peer even into every bank account let alone estimate any other holdings. When a viral video went around recently suggesting that the UK was triggering checks on people leaving the country, the suggestion was that authorities were rattled by the exodus and going to turn the taxman's gaze on the richer in this way. But no such checks are possible for the reasons above. And in any case, the UK does not record when people fly out, only when they enter the country. In truth, the 'hell' that matters is the budget deficit But wait, there is more. Beauchamp Estates, the very high-end property broker active in places like Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Belgravia, says that there's been a twist in the saga. In the first half of this year, it confirms that those involved in the 27 sales of properties were former non-doms and the majority of those left to relocate to Dubai as their prime primary residence. It noted that the market has speeded up since March. It also said that there is a clear trend of 'house-swapping' where people selling to move to the UAE are selling to buyers from the Gulf. Alongside buyers from North America, these two groups make up more than half the market in London. Some of the buyers in the pipeline are willing to pay up to £150 million. Experts suggest that what is really hurting the UK government in its wealth tax drive is the imposition of inheritance tax on the estates of the wealthy. That is an emotional issue that even saw Mr Trump give Prime Minister Keir Starmer a lecture on the 'death tax' when they met in Scotland last week. Pragmatic consideration should now force a rethink. The UK government won't, in the end, be able to tax what is no longer there. The figure for the number of people moving in this trend are, as we see, highly uncertain. But the high-profile examples given above tell a tale. Before it is too late, the Chancellor should recognise what Beauchamps detects; that the UK market has real and enduring appeal. Dislocation happens every now and then in a market that is deep and liquid. It is not too late to find more subtle ways to manage upwards the tax take from a dynamic economy that is popular with wealth creators. London, for example, is still a platform for global wealth. For her part, Ms Reeves is trying to make investing in the UK even more attractive. Starving the supply of sensational headlines about the exodus of the rich, when something more nuanced is actually taking place, would be a good place to start.
Khaleej Times
04-08-2025
- Khaleej Times
Visa-free countries for Bangladesh passport holders; full list of 39 destinations
With lush landscapes and a rich culture, Bangladesh, a country located in South Asia, is the eighth populous country in the world, with 173.6 million, as of 2024. As the country's youth seek to either explore the world, or venture on a hunt for job opportunities, a large number of Bangladeshis fly to different parts of the world. In the UAE, 1.2 million Bangladeshis are estimated to live and work here, constituting the third largest expatriate community in the country. With global destinations increasingly becoming interconnected, several countries offer visa-free access to foreigners, depending on the passport they hold. However, it is essential to check the conditions for each individual destination, such as purpose of travel, duration of stay etc., and keep track of advisories issued by the country's authority. Read Khaleej Times report for a full list of visa-free destinations for Indians, Pakistanis, and Filipinos. According to Henley and Partners, the Bangladeshi passport has a ranking of 94, and offers visa-free access to as many as 39 countries. Read the full list here: Bahamas Barbados Bhutan Bolivia British Virgin Islands Burundi Cambodia Cape Verde Islands Comoro Islands Cook Islands Djibouti Dominica Fiji Grenada Guinea-Bissau Haiti Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Madagascar Maldives Micronesia Montserrat Mozambique Nepal Niue Rwanda Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia Sri Lanka St. Kitts and Nevis St. Vincent and the Grenadines The Gambia Timor-Leste Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Vanuatu
The National
28-07-2025
- Business
- The National
It's no surprise the future of private wealth is being shaped in the Gulf
Macro-economic shifts, new technologies and evolving perceptions of value are altering what high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) – especially younger ones – look for in their portfolios and wealth managers. As established markets scramble to adapt to this reality, high-growth regions like the Gulf have an opportunity to capture a new wave of capital. This wave has already begun to descend on our shores, with cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai among the most popular in the world for affluent individuals. A report this year by Henley and Partners shows Dubai now has more than 81,000 millionaires, 237 centimillionaires and 20 billionaires. Meanwhile, the Julius Baer Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2025 describes the emirate as a 'firm challenger' to the traditional bastions of wealth amid rising property prices. There are many reasons for the GCC's increasing popularity among HNWIs. Traditional pull factors like low taxation and high security are still powerful draws. But there is another undercurrent lifting the region's wealth management firms and it's linked to something money can't buy – an appetite for 'the new'. Indeed, the Gulf has become a region of early adopters with a youthful, tech-savvy population who embrace change. It is perhaps unsurprising then to know that HNWIs in the Middle East are more prepared than their global peers for wealth managers to use artificial intelligence – not only for processing functions but for making investment decisions. EY's 2025 Global Wealth report shows that 89 per cent of clients are already aware that their wealth managers may be using AI – more than any other region. In fact, 71 per cent in the region expect their wealth managers to use AI compared to 60 per cent globally. This state-of-readiness among clients is partly down to a society that is already using AI widely in daily life and work. Interestingly, trust in AI tends to be higher in high-growth markets, according to the Global Wealth report. Ultimately, trust is heavily dependent on how data is used and protected. GCC countries were among the first to establish ethical frameworks to govern data usage and enable financial companies to adopt AI. For instance, DIFC revised Data Protection Regulations in September 2023 – shortly after the global GenAI boom – with Regulation 10 specifically regulating autonomous systems. In doing so, the government instilled AI confidence in both wealth managers and clients early on. It's a similar story across the GCC with Boston Consulting Group's AI Maturity Matrix ranking both the UAE and Saudi Arabia as 'AI Contenders', reflecting their state-of-readiness to adopt AI on an advanced level. Meanwhile, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar are classified as 'AI Practitioners', indicating strong foundational progress towards AI-readiness. Aside from their confidence in AI-enabled investing, HNWIs in the Middle East are also more open to alternative investments. Sixty-eight per cent of clients in the region already use alternative products compared with just 51 per cent globally. But it's not just real estate, private equity and infrastructure that are attracting private capital in the Gulf. Cryptocurrencies are big business with many younger clients opting for digital assets. Globally, regulatory complexity has made crypto a problematic choice. But in the GCC, governments have brought clarity with their unambiguous stance on digital assets. In March, Abu Dhabi-based MGX invested $2 billion in Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, demonstrating the level of government backing for digital finance. And earlier, in 2022, Dubai launched the world's first regulator dedicated exclusively to virtual assets, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Crypto is just one of several emerging categories in a region where asset classes seem to crop up faster than anywhere else. The pace and scale of the GCC's economic transformations are producing unprecedented opportunities for wealthy individuals as entire new industries appear with the backing of some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. For instance, Oman is establishing itself as a logistics hub with significant investments in port infrastructure. Today, its logistics sector is worth about $6 billion; by 2040, it is targeting $93 billion. This is just one example of defensive investment opportunities springing up all over the region as governments create the conditions for renewables, health care, education and technology to thrive. The combination of these booming sectors and high-growth economies is a recipe for attracting investment. But when it comes to private wealth, the GCC has something few other regions have. It has highly agile and forward-looking regulatory environments and ultimately an investor base that is unafraid of disruption. Here, capital may be prudent, but it is also pioneering. And ultimately, this is the spirit in which the future of private wealth will be shaped.
CTV News
27-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
The Canadian passport continues to lose power, global ranking report suggests
The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Canada's passport continues to lose power compared to other countries, according to the latest global passport ranking data. At last tally by the Henley Passport Index (HPI), a Canadian passport scored 184 points, meaning it allows travellers to visit that many global destinations out of a possible 227 without needing a visa. Canada is tied with Estonia and the United Arab Emirates for the eighth-strongest passport in the world, down from seventh, when the index was last updated. Since the beginning of the year, Canada's passport dropped an additional point, now totalling four points lost in the last decade, according to the index. The HPI regularly ranks 199 passports globally, drawing on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Alongside Venezuela, the United States, Vanuatu and the United Kingdom — Canada is among the countries with the fastest falling scores, according to the latest data published on July 22. According to a release from Henley and Partners, who manages the index, this represents a broader trend. 'Traditional mobility champions are losing ground in an increasingly multi-polar world,' the release notes. 'As emerging economies liberalize their visa regimes and invest in diplomatic capital, legacy powers like the U.K. and the U.S. appear to be retreating behind more restrictive entry policies.' The U.K. and U.S. have also dropped a ranking each in the global passport leaderboards since January, to sixth and 10th, respectively. The two countries were once the most powerful passports in the world — with the U.K. taking the top spot in 2015 and the U.S. doing so the year before. Now, the U.S. is on the verge of exiting the top 10 list for the first time in the index's 20-year history. Singapore, Japan and South Korea are currently in the top three spots, with 15 European countries following after. According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region is a leading driver of global travel. Demand for air travel saw 5.8 per cent growth over the first five months of 2025 worldwide, with some regional variations, while Asia-Pacific airlines saw 9.5 per cent growth, they note. 'Your passport is no longer just a travel document — it's a reflection of your country's diplomatic influence and international relationships,' Dr. Juerg Steffen, Chief Executive Officer at Henley & Partners, said in the release. 'In an era of growing inequality and mounting geopolitical uncertainty, strategic mobility and citizenship planning are more critical than ever.'
