Klaus Schwab has followed George Soros in suddenly pulling out of the World Economic Forum annual summit in Davos, being held from today until January 20.

Citing an unexpected "scheduling conflict", Soros announced on the weekend that he would not be attending the WEF meeting on Monday.

For his part, Schwab announced he is suffering an unspecified "health complaint" and is not expecting to be able to attend the Davos summit.