30 SECOND GUIDE TO ...

GFCI 18

What’s that?

The 18th Global Financial Centres Index has just been published and it shows that London has moved back ahead of New York to reclaim the top spot – making it the leading financial centre in the world.

Says who?

The Z/Yen Group, a City thinktank, publishes the GFCI and the index is sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. The latest version was published in Shenzhen in China to ‘mark the success of the Chinese centres in becoming more competitive’.

So which centres feature?

The report ranks 84 financial centres. The top ten, in order, are London, New York, hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Zurich, Toronto, San Francisco and Washington DC.

How is it measured?

More than 3,000 people working in financial services filled out 28,676 assessments which were used to rank each centre. The rankings are based on factors including the business environment, investment in infrastructure and the supply of skilled workers.

And London won?

It did. But it was close. ‘We prefer to see London and New York as complimentary rather than purely competitive,’ the report says, before adding: ‘It is noticeable that assessments for London have been higher since the general election in May 2015.’