Daily Mail

London the world’s top financial city (again)

- By Hugo Duncan Deputy Finance Editor

LONDON was yesterday crowned the world’s leading financial centre in a major boost for Britain as the country leaves the European Union.

The capital has again pipped New York to the top spot in the twice-yearly Global Financial Centres Index, and widened its lead over its main European rivals – underminin­g doom-laden warnings about the threat to the City from Brexit.

London and New York were followed by Hong Kong in third, Singapore in fourth and Tokyo in fifth. The highest-ranking city on the continent was Zurich in 16th followed by Frankfurt in 20th, Luxembourg in 21st and Paris in 24th. The report, published by thinktank Z/Yen Group, made a mockery of claims that cities such as Frankfurt and Paris posed a threat to London’s status as a global financial powerhouse.

‘Not everyone can be a London or a New York,’ a Montreal-based asset manager said in the report. ‘It seems to me that more of the smaller centres would do better by specialisi­ng in one sector.’

Brexit supporter Gerard Lyons, a former adviser to Boris Johnson, added: ‘London’s competitio­n is global.

‘When the UK did not join the euro, at that time one fear was that London would lose out as Europe’s leading financial centre to Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam.’

The rankings in the report were based on more than 100 factors measured independen­tly by groups including the World Bank, the Organisati­on for Economic Cooperatio­n and Developmen­t and the United Nations.

They include political stability and the rule of law, regulation, taxes, skills, quality of life, availabili­ty of capital, cultural diversity and reputation. London scored 794 out of 1,000 – one point ahead of New York on 793. The capital extended its lead over Frankfurt from 79 points to 86 points and over Paris from 100 points to 107 points.

The gap in the ratings of London and Paris was wider than the gap between Paris and the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Jersey.

Brexit campaigner John Longworth, the former head of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: ‘London is the world’s No 1 financial centre. Its real competitio­n comes from New York and Asia. By contrast, the much vaunted Paris and Frankfurt are rated as little better than British provincial cities.’

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