In addition, more than two-thirds of clients hope to see their children pursue their passion, while 55% would like their heirs to become stewards who harness inherited wealth for the better good.
“So this reflects very much what we see amongst our younger clients who are deeply passionate about giving back and also creating positive impact as well,” says Young Jin Yee, UBS‘s Singapore country head, at a media briefing. Young is also co-head of UBS Global Wealth Management Asia Pacific.
UBS interviewed 87 clients from 47 markets in Q3, surveying them on a range of topics including wealth succession, investment preferences, social challenges and worries.
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Don’t bite gold, but invest in it
The report revealed that 48% billionaires in Asia Pacific are keen to increase their exposure to gold/precious metals, with physical gold being of particular interest.
“We see a lot of interest in gold for families who maybe have lower exposure to gold,” says Conrad Huber, business sector head of non-resident India and India, Indonesia, Japan International, UBS Global Wealth Management. “But I think just mathematically, because the gold price has been going up in just one direction, you would see an increase in the percentage of it going up there.”
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“We also see people converting from paper gold into physical gold … [it’s] perceived to be a little bit safer, you know, feel it, touch it. Well, bite it. I wouldn’t recommend,” adds Huber, drawing laughter from the journalists.
Besides views on gold investment, around 43% of respondents intend to increase their exposure to equities from developed markets, while 42% plan to do likewise for emerging markets in the following year.
Investment preferences also seemed to be affected by geographical locations, with 61% of Asia Pacific billionaires planning to invest more in hedge funds, compared to those from the Americas (27%), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (35%).
North America was still seen as the most appealing investment destination for the next five years, with 65% indicating so. Greater China and Apac ex-Greater China also saw significant interest, with at least 48% expressing interest in these two regions.
Surprisingly, no one from EMEA wanted to add to their position in developed markets fixed income and there was no interest from any Americas respondent to increase exposure to commodities. Around 49% also indicated that they would like to invest directly as private equity.
Burgeoning wealth amid a complex world
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Technology and AI (71%) topped the billionaires’ list for pressing social challenges facing the younger generations. This was followed by climate change (55%) and poverty and inequality (45%).
Chief among billionaire worries are tariffs (66%), major geopolitical conflict (63%) and policy uncertainty (59%). There was a geographic element to the results: 75% of respondents in Asia Pacific cited tariffs, while 70% of Americas billionaires were concerned about high inflation and geopolitical conflict.
The report also shared that 2025 saw the emergence of 196 new self-made billionaires, worth US$386.5 billion ($499.5 billion) collectively. This, 196, was the second-highest figure for the category in the history of the report.
Out of these 196, there were 61 from the region. These include Mixue Ice Cream and Tea founders Zhang Hongchao and Zhang Hongfu, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and investor Hao Tang. In total, there were 1,036 billionaires — with total net wealth of US$4.2 trillion — in Asia Pacific, of whom 79% are self-made, the highest proportion among all regions.
“Over the next 15 years, the next generation in South and East Asia is expected to inherit US$764 billion and those in Greater China, US$407 billion — with India leading the largest wealth transfer in Asia. Younger billionaires are increasingly global in their outlook and are highly mobile,” shares Young.
According to the survey, 36% of respondents say they have moved at least once, while a further 9% are considering relocation. Younger billionaires are more likely to move, with 44% aged 54 and younger having relocated at least once, and 15% considering it.
Overall, the total number of billionaires worldwide increased by 8.8% to 2,919, with total wealth increasing 13% to more than US$15.78 trillion.
From a sectoral perspective, billionaires from tech, industrials and financials saw significant increases in wealth. In contrast, the wealth of billionaires in consumer and retail plateaued.
Female billionaires
There were only 374 female billionaires compared to 2,545 male billionaires. However, the females saw their wealth grow by 8.4% to US$5.2 billion, more than twice the rate of growth for the men, whose wealth only grew by 3.2% to US$5.4 billion. The report highlighted that this established a trend in which the average wealth of female billionaires has increased at a faster rate since 2022.
The report also found that out of the 43 new female billionaires, 16 were self-made. It also revealed that Asia Pacific has a higher proportion of female self-made billionaires than other regions.
