Asian cities claim 8 spots on top 20 billionaire cities list

NEW DELHI: New York City has the world's largest number of billionaires but Asian cities, which include Mumbai, dominate the list of top 20 billionaire places in the world, indicating that the region is at the beginning of a new cycle in wealth creation, says a report.

According to the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014, in Asia the billionaire population continued to increase in size and economic significance, with 30 per cent of the net increase in total billionaire wealth coming from the region.

The 8 Asian cities on the list are led by Hong Kong which is home to 82 billionaires, followed by Beijing (37) and Singapore (32), Mumbai (28), Tokyo (26), Shenzhen (25), Shanghai (21), Taipei (21), Seoul (20) and Bangkok (17).

In 2014, there were 560 billionaires in Asia, with a total wealth of $1,410 billion, higher than last year when there were 508 billionaires whose combined fortune amounted to $1,188 billion.

"Billionaires based in the eight Asian cities on the list collectively hold $821 billion in wealth - equivalent to 11 per cent of total global billionaire wealth," the report said.

The report - which presents a global overview of the billionaire segment shows that 34 per cent of the world's 2,325 billionaires are based in these top 20 cities.

Interestingly, only New York (103) and Los Angeles (25) made it onto the list despite the United States being the country with the most number of billionaires (571).

Other cities on the list include Sao Paolo (36 billionaires), which is ranked sixth; Dubai (34), ranked eighth; and Geneva (23) in 15th spot.

The Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014 shows that 155 new billionaires were minted this year, pushing the global population to a record 2,325 - a 7 per cent rise from 2013.

The combined wealth of the world's billionaires increased by 12 per cent to $7.3 trillion, which is higher than the combined market capitalisation of all the companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Wealth-X is the world's leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm. For the purpose of this study an UHNW individual is defined as those with net assets of $30 million and above.