What Guernsey Can Offer Chinese HNWIs'

In September 2014, the Hurun Research Institute published its annual listing of the richest people in China. It showed that IT tycoon Ma Yun had increased his personal fortune during the last year by 500% to $25 billion and in doing so, had climbed to first position on the list. He had surpassed last year's number one, Wang Jianlin, despite the latter's wealth also growing in the last 12 months.

What the survey highlights in greater detail is how real estate continues to be a big driver of wealth in China, with eight of the top 20 linked to that industry, but more broadly how the growth in the number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in China continues to gather pace, with the number of dollar billionaires is up by 39 in the last year to 354, whereas a decade ago there were only three such people.