Where Are the NextGen Financial Hubs?
While places like Hong Kong, Singapore, London or New York continue to thrive as the financial centers of today, there is no guarantee this will last forever. finews.asia spoke to various experts at a summit hosted by the Association of Independent Wealth Managers Singapore who shared their insights about the next generation of hubs.
According to a 2024 Boston Consultancy report, the leading booking centers worldwide in 2028 compared to 2018 will be more or less the same, with merely their positions being shuffled.
Hong Kong is expected to rise to the top with $3.2 trillion in assets under management, followed by Switzerland at $3.1 trillion. Further down the rankings are the usual suspects like Singapore, the US and the UK.
Unprecedented Mobility
Could this last forever? Not necessarily, according to experts at the sold-out «Independent Wealth Summit 2025», hosted by the Association of Independent Wealth Managers Singapore (AIWM), with over 250 attendees.
On a panel moderated by Claude Baumann, finews.asia founder and chairman, they spoke about the convergence of unprecedented mobility, blockchain technology, and climate focus amongst next generation (nextgen) capital and talent.
«There are going to be new financial centers in the world,» said Nirbhay Handa, CEO and co-founder of Multipolitan, a company specializing in global mobility. «So historically, it was London and it was New York, but the biggest financial centers in the future will be blockchain-forward and they will be climate-forward.»
«The Future is On-Chain»
Parag Khanna, Ning Chong, Lake Dai, and Nirbhay Handa (clockwise from top left)
According to Handa, «the nextgen truly believes that the future is on-chain», referring not only to cryptocurrencies but the general utility of blockchain technology.
«In places like Estonia, for example, you can file for an e-divorce on a blockchain-based service. Blockchain can also really prevent counterfeiting when it comes to your passport, and Switzerland has taken great measures there,» he said, sharing a few real-world examples.
«No one wants to deal with the inconvenience, the administrative burden, and the regulatory costs of services that really should be much more frictionless today,» added Parag Khanna, author, political strategist, as well as founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, a firm that provides high-tech solutions for the geomatics and surveying industry.
Considerations for Capital and Talent
Khanna noted that the focus on climate, specifically resilience or low risk in terms of exposure to hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, rising sea levels, floods and other environmental phenomena, is one out of a handful of factors that are successfully luring young entrepreneurs and talent. Other considerations include issues like political stability, affordability, and fast internet speeds.
«There's literally never, ever in world history been a better time to be young, to be mobile, and to be skilled. Imagine the geographies that you could not even access during, let's say, the Cold War. So here we are, only 30 years into a truly global era,» explained Khanna, who also wrote the best-selling book, «MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us». «The broader backdrop is that countries are engaging in an all-out war for talent.»
NextGen Financial Services
Sold-Out AIWM Summit at Singapore Management University, SMU (Image: finews)
Even if financial institutions manage to select the successful hubs of the future, they may still need to adjust their products, services, and methods of engagement to win over nextgen clients.
Handa said that trends affecting the industry include the productization of financial services, with capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI) set to reduce the need for financial advisors. A greater adoption of values-based investing will require offerings that focus on areas like climate change or health tech. The democratization of financial information also allows investors to be better informed than ever before.
«I believe this generation is a lot more self-aware. Ten years ago, I never read ingredients on what I'm eating, but now I do. [A product] may be FDA-approved, but people know to see through that,» Handa remarked. «There's a movement that's being created now with this nextgen and companies that reach out to the millennials.»
Ecosystems Can Be Sticky
While there is an emergence of new hubs, it is far from being set in stone that traditional ones will expire over time.
Lake Dai, founder and managing partner of Sancus Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in software infrastructure, including AI and blockchain, noticed the staying power of hubs like San Francisco after COVID. She attributed its success to an ecosystem filled with concentrated talent from top universities and established companies separated by short distances.
«During the pandemic, we saw a lot of startup founders departing the San Francisco Bay Area to go to Austin, Texas. Interestingly, after two, three years, they all came back,» Dai observed.
«People don't want to leave the ecosystem, and because of that, all the investors are back. They said: 'If you have a gold mine, why do you spend so much time in the coal mine?’»
Some Assets May Stay Traditional
And the potential for tradition to extend its legacy is not limited to hubs. Even art is facing technological disruption via generative AI or non-fungible tokens. While this may result in some success in the creative field, Ning Chong, co-founder and director of the Family Office For Art, is optimistic that many collectors will remain true to the traditional forms.
«I think as we merge forward in this digital age, more and more, tech is so much a part of our lives,» she said. «I think at the same time, we will want something tactile. We will be drawn to art because no matter how many images you consume online and how much you look at the screen, it will nourish your soul.»
«And I think I'm very hopeful for that future where art will continue to persist and thrive as a form of expression,» she concluded.
