WHEN the snows melt on the Alpine mountainsides next spring the Swiss will check to see how many more of their billionaires have decamped to the warmer climes of Britain.

A global survey of the lists of the wealthiest people in 27 leading countries shows that Britain and Switzerland have by far the biggest communities of foreign-born super-rich in the world.

Switzerland, with its reputation for banking secrecy and strict regulations, has long been regarded as a magnet for multi-millionaires.

But Britain, with the special attraction of tax incentives for billionaires from overseas, is fast catching up as a new refuge for the rich.

A third of the top 100 in The Sunday Times Rich List — 33 of the entries — were born overseas.

Switzerland, where everyone has to have access to a nuclear shelter and it was once illegal to slam the door of your Mercedes, has 47 foreign-born people in its top 100.

When it comes to the top 10, however, Britain’s bunker for billionaires has more than twice as many foreign-born occupants: seven of its wealthiest come from abroad compared with three in Switzerland. Those who move here do not face UK taxes on their earnings overseas.

The closest competitor for both countries is the United States, with just nine foreign- born billionaires in its top 100.

Britain now has more billionaires per head of population than America. It has also overtaken Switzerland in the total amount of wealth shared by its super-rich.

According to today’s exchange rates, the total wealth of the top 100 in the UK is £155 billion; in Switzerland it is £124 billion. Only the United States (£397 billion) and Germany (£161 billion) have richer rich people.

The combined fortune of the top 100 in Britain is equivalent to 16% of the nation’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

In Switzerland, a nation famously derided by Orson Welles in the movie The Third Man for enjoying 500 years of peace and democracy and producing nothing more than the cuckoo clock, the 100 super-rich share 98% of GDP.

The battle for the richest man in Europe is between Lakshmi Mittal, 56, the Indian-born steel tycoon who lives in London, and Ingvar Kamprad, the 80-year-old Swedish billionaire who founded the Ikea budget furnishings chain and lives near the Swiss city of Lausanne.

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