New York and London retained their positions as first and second place for the global ranking of financial centres, according to the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) published on Thursday.
New York has been in pole position since the 24th edition of the index, which was published in September 2018. London has since closed the gap in the ratings, with a singular rating point between the two.
This year’s edition said the four leading international financial centres, which included Hong Kong and Singapore as third and fourth, are locked in intense competition. Each were separated by only one point on the 1,000-point scale.
The index also showed no change in the top ten centres, with shifts confined to score adjustments rather than ranking positions – San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Seoul are unchanged in fifth to tenth positions, it said.
In the top 20 centres, Dubai is up one place to 11th position and Frankfurt down one place to 12th. Tokyo and Zurich entered the top 20, replacing Beijing and Amsterdam.
The rating for almost all centres improved very slightly, with the average rating across all centres up 0.6%. The largest increase in average ratings was in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, at 1.36% and the lowest was in the Middle East & Africa, where average ratings rose by 0.22%.
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The 38th edition of the index was jointly published by two leading think-tanks: Z/Yen in the UK and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen. It evaluates the competitiveness of 120 financial centres across the globe in different dimensions.
The index has been released since 2007, and is updated in March and September of each year.
The GFCI is evaluated based on five categories — human capital, business environment, financial sector development, infrastructure and reputation — as well as an online survey conducted on industry figures from around the world.
The ranking also revealed that London held onto its European crown towering above Frankfurt and Geneva, which took second and third place, by nearly 20 points.
But London tumbled in the fintech rankings, with Hong Kong taking top position, followed by Shenzhen, and New York falling to third place. Singapore overtook London to take fourth position.
Chinese and US centres continue to feature strongly, with six US centres and six Chinese centres in the fintech top 20.
Michael Mainelli, chairman of the Z/Yen and former Lord Mayor of London, said: “The extremely close ratings of centres in the index shows the intensity of competition among leading financial centres from the highest rated to the lowest.”