Switzerland, Haven For The Super-Rich, Lures More Billionaires Now

Switzerland has been attracting the world’s super-rich for decades. The country's famous banks, discretion, security - along with breath-taking scenery - are just some of the reasons that millionaires from around the world are drawn to the small Alpine nation, Christiane Oelrich reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: The river cityscape of Lucerne, Switzerland

The pandemic has further fueled the run on luxury properties in Switzerland, according to UBS bank. Property prices are soaring, with the highest recorded in the municipality of Cologny near Geneva, where real estate costs some 33,000 euros ($39,000) per square meter.

That is partly because the outbreak of the coronavirus has increased people's longing for security, according to analysts at UBS. They also note that in Switzerland, the risk of higher taxes for top earners is - unlike in some places abroad - manageable "thanks to a stable fiscal position.”

Switzerland's debt ratio is 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP.) In comparison, this rises to around 70 percent in Germany, and above 100 percent in France.

In 2020, the list of Switzerland’s 300 richest people was topped by the heirs of late Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, according to Bilanz magazine. The list also includes many others from abroad, such as Belarusian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, and French entrepreneur Gerard Wertheimer, who holds the majority of shares at Chanel, together with his brother.

Then there's Dutch entrepreneur Charlene Carvalho-Heineken, whose father founded the Heineken brewery.

Credit Suisse estimates that 14.9 percent of the population were millionaires in 2020, meaning every sixth inhabitant in the country of some 8.5 million. That gives the country the greatest concentration of millionaires worldwide, aside from small states such as Monaco.

Switzerland also has 135 billionaires, according to Bilanz. Meanwhile, more wealthy people are heading to Switzerland, it seems.

Lawyer Enzo Caputo, who focuses on foreign clients who are seeking to start a life in Switzerland, says the number of queries from clients has grown by 25 percent. Other lawyers suggest the figure has risen by 40 percent.

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