The annual “Sunday Times Rich List” for 2014 has revealed that Britain’s wealthiest 1,000 people have increased their fortunes by over 15% in the past year. With combined wealth totalling £519bn, they have doubled the pre-crisis amount of £258bn recorded in 2009.
Philip Beresford, who compiles the list, said that he had never seen such a “phenomenal rise in personal wealth” as the last year has shown. To be included on the list of the wealthiest 500 people it is necessary to have a fortune of at least £190m, more than double the threshold of £80m in 2008.
The UK continues to be the chosen place of residence for many of the world’s wealthiest people. The Sunday Times lists 104 billionaires living in the United Kingdom.
This is the first time since the list began to be compiled in 1989 that there are more than 100 billionaires in Britain. With 72 living in London, the capital has more resident billionaires than any other city in the world. Moscow is in second place with 48. In all, 438 of the top 1,000 live in London.
The majority of those in the upper echelons of the list have come to Britain from abroad. In first place are the Indian-born brothers, Sri and Gopie Hinduja, who run the conglomerate Hinduja Group. Their fortune is estimated at £11.9bn. They have overtaken Alisher Usmanov. The Uzbek-born Russian businessman, who owns one third of Arsenal Football Club, has seen his worth fall by just over two and a half billion pounds this year, to £10.65bn. Perhaps the fact that on Saturday Arsenal won the FA Cup will soften the blow for Mr Usmanov.
In third place, with wealth of £10.25bn, is another Indian-born businessman, Lakshmi Mittal and his family. The Chairman and CEO of the world’s largest steel-making company, ArcelorMittal, until the Hinduja brothers overtook him Mr Mittal was the richest man of Asian descent living in the UK.
There is a huge imbalance between men and women on the list. There are only 114 women in the top 1,000, down four from last year.
Mr Beresford gives a number of reasons as to why so many wealthy people chose to settle in the UK. Principally, this is for business reasons. London is still regarded as the financial centre of the world, helped by its convenient location time-wise for doing business with the USA on the one side and Europe and the Far East on the other. The UK offers a sense of business security which not all of those on the list might experience back home. They know that in the UK their property and companies won’t be seized.
The UK tax regime is considered fair, too, particularly for those who can register as “non-doms” (see “Non-doms” Pay Record Tax Bill, posted on this site on 1 May 2014). And, Mr Beresford adds, Britain is considered not only a conducive place to do business; it is a safe environment for the family, with schools which provide an excellent education for their children.
When the list was first published, the Queen was in first place. But Her Majesty dropped down the list when Mr Beresford decided to stop counting assets such as the royal art collection, which, strictly speaking is not the Queen’s personal property. The leading Briton on the list now, in tenth place, is the Duke of Westminster, with a fortune of £8.5bn. Not only is this up £700m on 2013, but it maintains the Duke’s place among the country’s most wealthy. In 1989, he featured in second place, with £3.2bn.
