Asia’s wealthy shift assets to Switzerland

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia — the final edition of 2025. This newsletter will be off the rest of the week, but will return to your inbox on Monday, January 5. I hope you have a restful and happy New Year!

On today’s agenda:

• Asia’s wealthy shift assets to Switzerland

• India’s billionaires struggle to woo Trump

• The US law firms paying $300,000 bonuses

• Our most popular stories of the year

We start in Switzerland, where Swiss private banks are expanding their Asia-focused teams onshore after a sharp rise in referrals and inquiries from the region during the past two years.

What’s happening: Bankers said Asian family offices and ultra-wealthy individuals were increasingly shifting their money to Switzerland, seeking direct relationships and a haven for assets including physical gold in vaults. Clients want their investments to be legally booked and held in Switzerland even if they live and work elsewhere, the bankers said.

The allure of Switzerland: The country has held its ground as the world’s pre-eminent haven even as rival centres including Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai have been growing faster in recent years. The two Asian centres have become vital hunting grounds for Swiss private banks, serving as fast-growing sources of new clients.

The majority of clients continue to book in Asia, but the percentage interested in Switzerland is increasing, said Omar Shokur, chief executive for Asia private clients at Lombard Odier, the private bank. “In the past, very few clients were requesting additional booking in Switzerland. Now more and more are asking if they can book in Switzerland. This is the new dimension starting,” he said. Read more about the political shocks and other factors driving this shift.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

Five more top stories

1. China’s military launched live-fire exercises around Taiwan yesterday, the second day of large-scale drills testing the People’s Liberation Army’s ability to carry out a maritime blockade. However, US President Donald Trump played down the seriousness of the latest large-scale manoeuvres.

• UAE pulls troops from Yemen: The Emirati withdrawal comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a Yemeni port, saying it was targeting weapons and armoured vehicles it alleged the UAE had shipped to a separatist movement.

2. Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia, whose rivalry with ousted leader Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for decades, has died. Believed to be 80 — her exact birth year was contested — Zia’s death was announced yesterday by her Bangladesh Nationalist party.

3. Warner Bros Discovery plans to reject the latest takeover proposal from Paramount, even after billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison agreed to personally backstop the $108bn hostile bid. WBD’s board still views the $83bn deal it agreed with Netflix in early December as superior to Paramount’s proposal.

4. Meta said it is buying Chinese-founded AI start-up Manus, a highly sophisticated digital helper. The purchase could raise hackles in Washington and Beijing at a time when AI has become a flashpoint in US-China relations.

5. Japanese shares have logged their highest ever year-end close, driven by technology stocks as investors bet on the AI boom and Tokyo’s ability to withstand increased geopolitical turbulence and trade tensions. The Topix closed the final session of 2025 at 3,408.97, up 23.7 per cent since the start of January.

Take part in a live Ask an Expert Q&A with Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, on January 8. Submit your questions on what will shape 2026.

News in-depth

India’s billionaires had high hopes for the Trump presidency. But nearly one year since his second term began, two of the country’s richest men — Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani — are paying the price for the worst relationship between New Delhi and Washington in decades.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Whopper payouts: Mid-level lawyers at some US firms will be paid bonuses of more than $300,000 this month as top firms battle over talent.

• Peak Labubu: Chinese toymaker Pop Mart is set to expand its global presence next year amid pressure to maintain its sales momentum.

• Year in a word — cockroaches: JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon has given a deft summary of the bankruptcies that have rattled finance, writes Brooke Masters.

Charts of the year

Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs spooked bond markets and sent global boardrooms scrambling to rejig their supply chains. They also pushed up domestic prices of everyday items, hurting US consumers. But the global trading system has proved resilient. Here’s the story of world trade in 2025, told with charts.

The most popular stories of 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, here’s a look back at some of the FT’s most-read stories of the year:

In the opening days of his second term, Donald Trump held a fiery phone call with Denmark’s prime minister, where the US president insisted he was serious about taking over Greenland. Then in March, we revealed that HSBC fired investment bankers on the day they were due to learn their bonus figures — and gave no bonuses to many it let go. Outside of the news realm, FT editor Roula Khalaf dropped by the Napa Valley home of Sam Altman, the OpenAI chief executive, for Lunch with the FT. Over a simple vegetarian meal — cooked by Altman himself — they discussed the risks and opportunities of AI, his dispute with Elon Musk and why he has the “most important job maybe in history”.

Thanks for reading FirstFT this year and see you in 2026!