Global Financial Centres
From Z/Yen
Overview
After a year of trials, in 2006 the City of London Corporation and Z/Yen Group launched a ranking for financial centres, the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). The GFCI is an ‘index of indices’, based on a number of existing rankings, in combination with a regular survey of senior industry figures. Published every six months, the GFCI is dynamic, tracking the changing perceptions of cities as financial centres on an ongoing basis.
Method
The GFCI provides ratings for financial centres
calculated by a ‘factor assessment model’ that
uses two distinct sets of input:
1. Instrumental factors (external indices that
contribute to competitiveness): Previous research indicates
that there are many factors that combine to make a
financial centre competitive. These can be grouped
into five overarching areas of competitiveness –
People, Business Environment, Market Access, Infrastructure and General Competitiveness. Objective
evidence of competitiveness was sought from
a wide variety of comparable sources. For
example, evidence about the infrastructure
competitiveness of a financial centre is drawn
from a survey of property and an index of
occupancy costs. Evidence about a fair and
just business environment is drawn from a
corruption perception index and an opacity
index. A total of 64 external sources were used
in GFCI 6. Not all financial centres are
represented in all the external sources, and
the statistical model takes account of these
gaps.
2. Financial centre assessments: By means of an online questionnaire, running continuously since 2007, we now have 36,497 financial centre assessments drawn from 1,802 respondents. Respondents assess the competitiveness of financial centres that they know. The online questionnaire is ongoing to keep the GFCI up-to-date with people’s changing assessments.
Results
The financial centres in the latest index (GFC 7) which was published in March 2010 are ranked below:
| Centre | GFC 7 Rank | GFC 7 Rating | GFCI 6 Rank | GFCI 6 Rating | Change in rank | Change in rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | =1 | 775 | 1 | 790 | 0 | -15 |
| New York | =1 | 775 | 2 | 774 | 1 | 1 |
| Hong Kong | 3 | 739 | 3 | 729 | 0 | 10 |
| Singapore | 4 | 733 | 4 | 719 | 0 | 14 |
| Tokyo | 5 | 692 | 7 | 674 | 2 | 18 |
| Chicago | 6 | 678 | 8 | 661 | 2 | 17 |
| Zurich | 7 | 677 | 6 | 676 | -1 | 1 |
| Geneva | 8 | 671 | 9 | 660 | 1 | 11 |
| Shenzhen | =9 | 670 | 5 | 695 | -4 | -25 |
| Sydney | =9 | 670 | 11 | 651 | 2 | 19 |
| Shanghai | 11 | 668 | 10 | 655 | -1 | 13 |
| Toronto | 12 | 667 | 13 | 647 | 1 | 20 |
| Frankfurt | 13 | 660 | 12 | 649 | -1 | 11 |
| Boston | 14 | 652 | 17 | 634 | 3 | 18 |
| Beijing | =15 | 651 | 23 | 613 | 8 | 38 |
| San Francisco | =15 | 651 | 18 | 634 | 3 | 17 |
| Washington D.C | 17 | 647 | 20 | 630 | 3 | 17 |
| Jersey | =18 | 643 | 14 | 640 | -4 | 3 |
| Luxembourg | =18 | 643 | 16 | 637 | -2 | 6 |
| Paris | 20 | 642 | 19 | 630 | -1 | 12 |
| Taipei | 21 | 638 | 25 | 609 | 4 | 29 |
| Guernsey | 22 | 632 | 15 | 638 | -7 | -6 |
| Vancouver | 23 | 623 | 29 | 589 | 6 | 34 |
| Isle of Man | =24 | 618 | 24 | 609 | 0 | 9 |
| Dubai | =24 | 618 | 21 | 617 | -3 | 1 |
| Montreal | =26 | 617 | 32 | 586 | 6 | 31 |
| Melbourne | =26 | 617 | 33 | 584 | 7 | 33 |
| Seoul | =28 | 615 | 35 | 576 | 7 | 39 |
| Edinburgh | =28 | 615 | 27 | 605 | -1 | 10 |
| Cayman Islands | =28 | 615 | 26 | 608 | -2 | 7 |
| Dublin | =31 | 612 | 22 | 613 | -9 | -1 |
| Hamilton | =31 | 612 | 28 | 597 | -3 | 15 |
| Munich | 33 | 610 | 30 | 588 | -3 | 22 |
| Osaka | 34 | 606 | 38 | 565 | 4 | 41 |
| Amsterdam | 35 | 604 | 31 | 586 | -4 | 18 |
| Qatar | 36 | 600 | 44 | 558 | 8 | 42 |
| British Virgin Islands | 37 | 596 | 34 | 584 | -3 | 12 |
| Stockholm | 38 | 595 | 36 | 569 | -2 | 26 |
| Brussels | 39 | 591 | 37 | 568 | -2 | 23 |
| Sao Paulo | 40 | 590 | 42 | 560 | 2 | 30 |
| Copenhagen | =41 | 587 | 41 | 560 | 0 | 27 |
| Bahrain | =41 | 587 | 43 | 558 | 2 | 29 |
| Vienna | 43 | 583 | 46 | 555 | 3 | 28 |
| Wellington | 44 | 582 | 54 | 541 | 10 | 41 |
| Madrid | =45 | 581 | 40 | 560 | -5 | 21 |
| Oslo | =45 | 581 | 56 | 538 | 11 | 43 |
| Milan | 47 | 579 | 47 | 554 | 0 | 25 |
| Monaco | 48 | 578 | 39 | 563 | -9 | 15 |
| Rome | 49 | 574 | 57 | 537 | 8 | 37 |
| Helsinki | 50 | 573 | 59 | 533 | 9 | 40 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 51 | 571 | 45 | 557 | -6 | 14 |
| Glasgow | 52 | 570 | 49 | 550 | -3 | 20 |
| Gibraltar | 53 | 568 | 51 | 543 | -2 | 25 |
| Johannesburg | =54 | 566 | 50 | 550 | -4 | 16 |
| Rio de Janeiro | =54 | 566 | 61 | 532 | 7 | 34 |
| Malta | 56 | 565 | 52 | 543 | -4 | 22 |
| Mexico City | 57 | 563 | 55 | 541 | -2 | 22 |
| Mumbai | 58 | 562 | 53 | 542 | -5 | 20 |
| Bahamas | 59 | 557 | 48 | 551 | -11 | 6 |
| Mauritius | 60 | 552 | 58 | 536 | -2 | 16 |
| Bangkok | 61 | 549 | 60 | 532 | -1 | 17 |
| Prague | 62 | 543 | 65 | 492 | 3 | 51 |
| Jakarta | =63 | 535 | 62 | 511 | -1 | 24 |
| Buenos Aires | =63 | 535 | 63 | 507 | 0 | 28 |
| Lisbon | 65 | 529 | 66 | 477 | 1 | 52 |
| Manila | 66 | 527 | 64 | 494 | -2 | 33 |
| Warsaw | 67 | 520 | 69 | 456 | 2 | 64 |
| Moscow | 68 | 516 | 67 | 462 | -1 | 54 |
| Riyadh | 69 | 507 | 68 | 457 | -1 | 50 |
| St. Petersburg | 70 | 501 | 70 | 453 | 0 | 48 |
| Tallinn | 71 | 488 | 71 | 445 | 0 | 43 |
| Budapest | 72 | 481 | 74 | 425 | 2 | 56 |
| Athens | 73 | 480 | 73 | 433 | 0 | 47 |
| Istanbul | 74 | 470 | 72 | 442 | -2 | 28 |
| Reykjavik | 75 | 447 | 75 | 415 | 0 | 32 |
