Expat wealth continues to look east

18 January 2012 - Top of the Expat Economics league table this year are Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Egypt, according to HSBC's Expat Explorer Survey. Expats in these countries work predominantly in the banking or financial sector.

Career prospects are cited as one of the key drivers for their relocation. When asked about the top benefit of being an expat, financial wealth and financial security (28% for both) were rated highest by those in Saudi Arabia, while expats in Singapore felt that personal development and a better quality of life (27%, 17%) were more important than the financial aspects of their move. This trend is mirrored in Egypt with expats most likely to cite personal development as their top benefit of relocation (33%) with financial wealth second (23%) and financial security a close third (17%).

Expats' perception of the economy in their country of residence varies across the top three countries in the Expat Economics league table. 68% of expats in Saudi Arabia believe their economy to be very strong and nearly half believe that it will continue to improve over the coming year (49%). Only 6% of expats here think the economy is weak or has deteriorated, and within this group only 33% are considering relocating. The story is similar in Singapore where 68% of expats believe that their economy is strong and 64% feel that it has improved in the past year. Again only 6% of expats believe the economy is weak or has deteriorated and within this only 29% are actively looking to relocate.

Conversely, three quarters of expats in Egypt feel that their economy is weak (77%) and 47% feel it will continue to deteriorate in the coming year. This perception has had an impact on expats' desire to remain in the Egypt: while only 20% of those who think the economy is weak or has deteriorated state that they are actively looking to relocate, a further 33% are considering moving.

Source: HSBC