Swiss Banks, private wealth deposited

Ultra-rich prefer to park wealth in Switzerland

ZURICH (Reuters) - The world's ultra-rich still prefer to park their millions in Switzerland, a study showed on Monday, with banks in the country holding just under a third of the world's private wealth deposited abroad.

Switzerland held 28 percent of the global amount of private wealth held abroad -- so-called off-shore capital -- which totalled $5.9 trillion (3.0 trillion pounds) at the end of 2005, a study by the Swiss Bankers Association showed.

Hong Kong and Singapore, two cities flourishing on the back of the rapidly rising number of wealthy clients in Asia, still only held 4 and 3 percent of global off-shore wealth respectively, the study also said.

Including domestic and institutional money, the total amount of assets under management in Switzerland stood at 6.9 trillion Swiss francs (2.8 trillion pounds) at the end of 2005, according to a survey of the 200 largest banks in the country, the SBA said.

Switzerland is home to UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, and to Credit Suisse, which also ranks in the top 10, with wealthy clients benefiting from the country's strict laws on banking secrecy.

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Swiss Bankers Association, Swiss Banks