Beijing, Shanghai gain fastest on global top cities ranking‎

Beijing: Beijing and Shanghai have the most rapid growth in importance to high-net-worth individuals and will rank third and fourth among the world's top cities in 10 years.Shanghai Daily reported this Wednesday, quoting a Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank report. Presently, London and New York are seen as the most important world cities for high net worth individuals.[caption id="attachment_258527" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Reuters"][/caption]The two cities will hold their top positions for another 10 years, said the report, which defines those with more than $25 million of assets which can be invested as high net worth individuals.Top-scoring indicators to make a global city include personal safety and security, economic openness, social stability, availability of luxury housing and excellent educational opportunities.A shift in wealth distribution towards Asia Pacific - covering China, Southeast Asia and Japan - has been confirmed, where there are now 18,000 centa-millionaires (those with over $100 million in assets).This has already outnumbered North America, which has 17,000, and Western Europe with 14,000.IANS