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Britain’s wealthiest residents have pulled roughly $160 billion out of the country over the past two years, according to a Bloomberg analysis, either cutting ties with the UK entirely or relocating abroad. The figure is striking on its own terms: it’s larger than the combined net worth of the billionaires who have chosen to stay.
The exodus accelerated after the UK ended its non-dom tax regime, a policy that for decades let wealthy residents shield foreign income and assets from British tax as long as it stayed outside the country. The repeal was first set in motion by the outgoing Conservative government in early 2024 and carried through after Labour took office that July, closing a loophole that had made London an attractive base for the internationally wealthy for generations.
The destinations of choice have been consistent: Switzerland, Monaco, and the United Arab Emirates, all of which offer far lighter treatment of income, capital gains, or inherited wealth than post-reform Britain. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, whose fortune Bloomberg estimates at roughly $40.8 billion, left the UK for Switzerland after three decades based in London. Property billionaire David Reuben, tied for second place on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, relocated from London to Monaco. Shipping magnate John Fredriksen, the UK’s ninth-richest resident with a fortune exceeding $10 billion, shifted major business operations from London to the UAE.
Taken together, the departures mark one of the more significant tests of London’s decades-long status as a global wealth hub. The city built that reputation in large part on tax treatment that made it comparatively attractive to hold both a home and a fortune there; with that advantage narrowed, the early data suggests a meaningful share of the world’s richest people have concluded the calculus no longer favors staying.
