The 39th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 39) was published today by Z/Yen Group in partnership with the China Development Institute (CDI).
- New York continues to lead the index, in first place since GFCI 24, published in September 2018.
- Only one rating point now separates each of the top four centres in the index, New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
- Dubai and Tokyo enter the top 10, replacing Chicago and Los Angeles.
- Overall, the rating for almost all centres fell, with the average rating across all centres down 1.82%. The largest fall in average ratings was in Latin America and The Caribbean down 2.5%, and the smallest decrease was in Eastern Europe & Central Asia, where average ratings fell by 0.56%.
- There is no change among the top five FinTech rankings, with Hong Kong in top position followed by Shenzhen, New York, Singapore, and London.
- Chinese and US centres continue to feature strongly in FinTech, with five US centres and six Chinese centres in the top 20. This reflects the continuing strength of their economies in the development of technology applications.
We have also researched views on the aspects of regulation that are most important to the development of financial centres. The most important factor was predictability, followed by the speed of regulatory response, flexibility, and the quality of regulation. Cost was identified as the least important aspect by those responding to the survey.
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Full details of GFCI 39 can be found at www.globalfinancialcentres.net.
Professor Michael Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen, said:
“The significant gap in ratings between the leading four centres and the rest implies there is no paradox of increasing concentration on fewer safe centres during a period of increasing deglobalisation. Still, with Dubai and Tokyo bouncing Chicago and Los Angeles out of the top 10, competition is keen. The data for this edition of the GFCI predate the current conflict in the Middle East. We anticipate that the economic shocks caused by that conflict will materially affect future editions of the index.”
