GFCI 34 Headlines

• The 34th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 34) was published today by Z/Yen Group in partnership with the China Development Institute (CDI). The launch webinar for GFCI 34 linked London and Hong Kong with contributions from the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council and the World Alliance Of International Financial Centers.
• New York held onto the top position in the index and has now been in first place since GFCI 24, published in September 2018.
• London remains second, ahead of Singapore in third place, which has maintained its slight lead over Hong Kong in fourth position.
• Washington DC and Geneva entered the top 10 in this edition, replacing Seoul and Boston.
• The average rating of centres in the index rose over 3.5% compared with GFCI 33. This suggests growing confidence in financial centres and the world economy, notwithstanding global challenges.
• US centres performed well, with five US centres in the top 10, reflecting the strength of the US economy.
• Leading Chinese centres were stable in the rankings.
• Continuing professional development has been identified as the most important strategy in ensuring the future strength of talent in the financial sector.
• New York retains its leading position in the Fintech ranking, followed by London, which overtook San Francisco to take second position. Shenzhen maintained its fourth place in the table.
• Beijing has joined Singapore, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Shanghai, and Chicago in the top 10 for FinTech, replacing Boston.

The top 20 centres in GFCI 34 are shown in the table below.

Full details of GFCI 34 can be found at www.globalfinancialcentres.net.

Professor Michael Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen, said:

“Confidence in international financial centres remains strong. Virtually all the centres we track improved their rating in GFCI 34. Skills and talent development is vital for financial centres, increasingly so with new skills required in areas such as AI and ethics. Combining continuing professional development a with formal tertiary education is a key strategy to ensure that the financial sector workforce is fit for the future.”

ENDS

Information For Editors

About GFCI 34

GFCI 34 rates 121 financial centres across the world combining assessments from financial professionals with quantitative data which form instrumental factors.

GFCI 34 uses 58,789 financial centre assessments collected from 9,097 financial services professionals who responded to the GFCI online questionnaire. The GFCI is updated regularly, and ratings change as assessments and instrumental factors change.

To find out more about sponsorship opportunities, joining the Vantage Financial Centres network, further research, and bespoke reports on individual financial centres, please contact us.

Previous Editions

Previous editions of the GFCI can be accessed at www.longfinance.net/programmes/financialcentrefutures/global-financial-centres-index/publications.html

Long Finance

The GFCI is part of the Long Finance initiative (www.longfinance.net), which undertakes research programmes on Financial Centre Futures, Sustainable Futures, Distributed Futures, Eternal Coin, and Meta-Commerce. Please get in touch for more details on Long Finance.

Contact

For more information please email Mike Wardle at mike_wardle@zyen.com or by phone on +44 (0) 7880 737319.