The Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) provides profiles, ratings and rankings for 79 financial centers, drawing on two separate sources of data – instrumental factors (external indices) and responses to an online survey.
The main headlines of GFCI 13 are:
- London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore remain the top four centers. London’s ratings seem to have been unaffected by the LIBOR scandal. Hong Kong and Singapore are now only two points apart.
- The financial centers in Europe are still in turmoil as the Eurozone crisis continues. Zurich and Geneva confirm their position in the GFCI top ten. Frankfurt and Paris rise significantly and have closed the gap on London a little. Luxembourg, Vienna, Milan and Rome also show improvements and also move slightly closer to London. Lisbon, Reykjavik, Budapest and Athens however decline, and remain at the bottom of the GFCI rankings.
- All Asia/Pacific financial centers except Beijing see their ratings improve in GFCI 13. This confirms the thinking that the decline in ratings in GFCI 12 was a temporary pause rather than the end of their long term improvements. Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Tokyo experience the strongest rises in the region. Beijing however is the largest faller in GFCI 13, down by 15 places.
- All centers in the Americas see their ratings improve although Chicago, Toronto and San Francisco fall slightly in the ranks. Boston enters the GFCI top ten, climbing to 8th place. Boston was previously in 11th place and has now moved just above Seoul, Chicago and Toronto. All Latin American centers make significant progress in terms of both rankings and ratings. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are now in the GFCI top 50 both having climbed four places. Buenos Aires makes a significant gain of 55 points and is now in 53rd place. Santiago has been added to the GFCI questionnaire recently but still needs to acquire sufficient assessments to be included in the index
- Offshore centers continue to gain ground in GFCI 13 with good improvements in their ratings. Jersey and Guernsey remain the leading centers. These two are followed by Monaco which ranks 35th in GFCI 13, up by 25 ranks and 57 points since GFCI 12.
You may access the complete GFCI 13 assessment through this link.