Global Financial Centres Index

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Economist Intelligence Unit. It is compiled and published twice a year by Z/Yen Group and sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. It is widely quoted as a source for ranking financial centres.^[1][2][3][4]

Ranking

The ranking is an aggregate of indices from five key areas: "business environment", "financial sector development", "infrastructure factors", "human capital", "reputation and general factors". As of September 2016, the top centres worldwide are:^[5][6]

Rank Change Centre Country/region Rating Change 1 London  United Kingdom 795 5 2 New York City  United States 794 2 3  Singapore 752 3 4  Hong Kong 748 5 5 Tokyo  Japan 734 6 6 2 San Francisco  United States 720 9 7 2 Boston  United States 719 10 8 3 Chicago  United States 718 12 9 3 Zurich   Switzerland 716 2 10 3 Washington, D.C.  United States 713 1 11 6 Sydney  Australia 712 20 12 2 Luxembourg  Luxembourg 711 13 13 3 Toronto  Canada 710 3 14 2 Seoul  South Korea 704 1 15 6 Montreal  Canada 703 17 16 Shanghai  China 700 7 17 3 Osaka  Japan 699 12 18 5 Dubai  United Arab Emirates 698 1 19 1 Frankfurt  Germany 695 6 20 2 Vancouver  Canada 694 10 21 3 Taipei  Republic of China (Taiwan) 692 15 22 3 Shenzhen  China 691 3 23 8 Geneva   Switzerland 689 5 24 6 Melbourne  Australia 687 18 25 4 Los Angeles  United States 685 15 26 3 Beijing  China 683 1 27 Munich  Germany 680 8 28 13  Cayman Islands (BOT) 676 35 29 3 Paris  France 672 5 30 3 Casablanca  Morocco 671 6 31 8 Dublin  Ireland 663 20 32 6 Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates 662 13 33 1 Amsterdam  Netherlands 659 5 34 6 Calgary  Canada 658 15 35 15  Bermuda (BOT) 654 25 36 10  British Virgin Islands (BOT) 653 18 37 3 Vienna  Austria 645 3 38 13 Tel Aviv  Israel 643 33 39 8 Bangkok  Thailand 642 9 40 5 Doha  Qatar 641 11 41 3 Busan  South Korea 640 4 42 20  Jersey (CD) 639 22 43 7 Kuala Lumpur  Malaysia 638 11 44 7 Stockholm  Sweden 636 12

Rank Change Centre Country/region Rating Change 45 3 Warsaw  Poland 633 2 46 33 Qingdao  China 631 37 47 19  Guernsey (CD) 630 17 48 17 Dalian  China 629 39 49 16 Oslo  Norway 628 14 50 28 Tallinn  Estonia 627 31 51 8 Sao Paulo  Brazil 626 13 52 19 Riga  Latvia 625 20 53 1 Milan  Italy 624 1 54 10 Rio de Janeiro  Brazil 623 14 55 6  Gibraltar (BOT) 622 4 56 20  Liechtenstein 621 23 57 12 Istanbul  Turkey 620 16 58 11  Bahrain 619 10 59 8 Johannesburg  South Africa 618 10 60 11 Copenhagen  Denmark 616 14 61 2 Glasgow  United Kingdom 615 5 62 10 Brussels  Belgium 614 13 63 9 Panama City  Panama 613 10 64 1 Rome  Italy 612 4 65 3  Isle of Man (CD) 611 1 66 10 Edinburgh  United Kingdom 610 13 67 13  Monaco 609 19 68 4 Madrid  Spain 608 7 69 6 Lisbon  Portugal 607 8 70 7 Almaty  Kazakhstan 605 8 71 NR  Trinidad and Tobago 604 NR 72 15 Prague  Czech Republic 603 19 73 20 Mexico City  Mexico 600 26 74 7  Malta 599 12 75 33 Mumbai  India 598 42 76 18 Jakarta  Indonesia 597 24 77 3 Budapest  Hungary 596 4 78 23 Manila  Philippines 595 29 79 6  Mauritius 594 7 80 3  Cyprus 593 17 81 21 Helsinki  Finland 586 33 82 12 Riyadh  Saudi Arabia 585 21 83 2 Reykjavik  Iceland 573 11 84 17 Moscow  Russia 568 43 85 3 Saint Petersburg  Russia 567 18 86 2  The Bahamas 566 2 87 1 Athens  Greece 535 23

N.B. Trinidad and Tobago is the latest new entry, having not been included in the GFCI 19 ranking.

Financial centre profiles

The report groups 87 of the financial centres into the following matrix:^[5] Note: This section will be updated in the GFCI 22 set of rankings.

Level	Broad & deep Global Leaders	Relatively broad Global Diversified	Relatively deep Global Specialists	Emerging Global Contenders
Global	Amsterdam Dublin Frankfurt Geneva  Hong Kong London New York City Paris  Singapore Toronto Zürich	Brussels Shanghai	Beijing Dubai Luxembourg Moscow	Jersey
Level	Broad & deep Established Transnational	Relatively broad Transnational Diversified	Relatively deep Transnational Specialists	Emerging Transnational Contenders
Transnational	Boston Chicago Istanbul Madrid Montreal Munich San Francisco Seoul Stockholm Sydney Tokyo Vancouver Washington, D.C.	Copenhagen Edinburgh Kuala Lumpur Lisbon Los Angeles Prague	British Virgin Islands Casablanca  Cayman Islands Doha  Guernsey  Mauritius Shenzhen	Abu Dhabi Almaty Bangkok  Bahamas Dalian  Gibraltar
Level	Broad & deep Established Players	Relatively broad Local Diversified	Relatively deep Local Specialists	Emerging Evolving Centres
Local	Tel Aviv Warsaw	Budapest Busan Calgary Glasgow Helsinki Melbourne Mexico City Milan Osaka Oslo Rome Vienna	Panama Qingdao Riga Rio de Janeiro São Paulo Taipei Tallinn	Athens  Bahrain  Cyprus  Bermuda  Isle of Man Jakarta Johannesburg  Liechtenstein  Malta Manila  Monaco Mumbai Reykjavik Riyadh Saint Petersburg

Key areas

The human capital factors summarise the availability of a skilled workforce, the flexibility of the labour market, the quality of the business education and the skill-set of the workforce, and quality of life. The business environment factors aggregate and value the regulation, tax rates, levels of corruption, economic freedom and how difficult in general it is to do business. To measure regulation an online questionnaire has been used. The financial sector development factors assess the volume and value of trading in capital markets and other financial markets, the cluster effect of the number of different financial service companies at the location, and employment and economic output indicators. The infrastructure factors account for the price and availability of office space at the location, as well as public transport. Reputation and General considers more subjective aspects such as innovation, brand appeal, cultural diversity and competitive positioning.

Industry sectors

The index provides sub-rankings in the main areas of financial services – banking, investment management, insurance, professional services, government and regulation.

References

1. See, for example, Yoshio Okubo, Vice Chairman, Japan Securities Dealers Association (October 2014). "Comparison of Global Financial Center". Harvard Law School, Program on International Financial Systems, Japan-U.S. Symposium. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
2. "New York Strips London of Mantle as World's Top Financial Center". Bloomberg. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
3. "New York and London vie for crown of world's top financial centre". The Financial Times. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
4. "Seoul's Rise as a Global Financial Center". The Korea Society. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
5. "The Global Financial Centres Index 20". Long Finance. September 2016.
6. "GFCI 20 Overall Rankings". Long Finance. September 2016.