Global Financial Centres Index

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ranks the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 assessments from an online questionnaire and over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first index was published in March 2007. It has been jointly published twice per year by the London-based think tank Z/Yen and the China Development Institute since 2015.^[1]^[2] It is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.^[3]^[4]^[5]

GFCI 36 (September 2024)

The 36th edition of the GFCI was published in September 2024.^[6] New York City, London and Hong Kong ranked top 3 globally.

Top 20 Centres in GFCI 36 (September 2024)^[6]
Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
1	New York City	763		1
2	London	750		3
3	Hong Kong	749	1	8
4	Singapore	747	1	5
5	San Francisco	742		2
6	Chicago	740	3	4
7	Los Angeles	739	1	2
8	Shanghai	738	2	1
9	Shenzhen	732	2	2
10	Frankfurt	730	3	2
11	Seoul	729	1	6
12	Washington, D.C.	728		5
13	Geneva	726	6	12
14	Dublin	725	11	6
15	Paris	724	1	7
16	Dubai	723	4	1
17	Zurich	722	1	7
18	Beijing	721	3	9
19	Luxembourg	720	2	8
20	Tokyo	719	1	6

All Surveyed Centres in GFCI 36 (September 2024)^[6]
Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
1	New York City	763		1
2	London	750		3
3	Hong Kong	749	1	8
4	Singapore	747	1	5
5	San Francisco	742		2
6	Chicago	740	3	4
7	Los Angeles	739	1	2
8	Shanghai	738	2	1
9	Shenzhen	732	2	2
10	Frankfurt	730	3	2
11	Seoul	729	1	6
12	Washington, D.C.	728		5
13	Geneva	726	6	12
14	Dublin	725	11	6
15	Paris	724	1	7
16	Dubai	723	4	1
17	Zurich	722	1	7
18	Beijing	721	3	9
19	Luxembourg	720	2	8
20	Tokyo	719	1	6
21	San Diego	718		5
22	Boston	717		5
23	Toronto	716		5
24	Montreal	715	6	1
25	Busan	714	2	3
26	Lugano	713	9	4
27	Amsterdam	712	3	8
28	Sydney	711	10	15
29	Edinburgh	710	4	1
30	Jersey	709	10	5
31	Qingdao	708		5
32	Melbourne	707	4	9
33	Minneapolis/St Paul	706	7	12
34	Guangzhou	705	5	10
35	Abu Dhabi	704	2	3
36	Miami	703	2	3
37	Glasgow	702	5
38	Calgary	701	4	9
39	Chengdu	700	4	1
40	Copenhagen	699	1	6
41	Atlanta	698	4	1
42	Vancouver	697	4	1
43	Berlin	696	11	16
44	Osaka	695	3	2
45	Munich	694	9	14
46	Wellington	693	5	10
47	Madrid	692	5
48	Tel Aviv	691		5
49	Guernsey	690	20	15
50	Hamburg	689	1	4
51	Milan	688	4	1
52	GIFT City-Gujarat	687	5
53	Stuttgart	686	9	14
54	Mumbai	685	4	1
55	Reykjavík	684	6	11
56	Isle of Man	683	12	7
57	Casablanca	682	1	6
58	Oslo	681	5	10
59	Kuala Lumpur	680	18	13
60	Mauritius	679	1	4
61	Brussels	678	1	6
62	Astana	677	4	1
63	Riyadh	676	21	16
64	Doha	675	24	19
65	Dalian	674	6	11
66	Stockholm	673	16	21
67	Kigali	672		5
68	New Delhi	671	7	2
69	Kuwait City	670	11	6
70	Malta	669		5
71	Helsinki	668	9	14
72	Hangzhou	667	1	6
73	Taipei	666		5
74	Liechtenstein	665	10	15
75	Johannesburg	664	7	2
76	Rome	663	22	27
77	Nanjing	662	14	19
78	Tianjin	661	13	18
79	Bermuda	660	27	34
80	Bahrain	659	4	9
81	Cayman Islands	658	2	7
82	Wuhan	657	9	4
83	Vienna	656	11	16
84	Cape Town	655	1	6
85	São Paulo	654		5
86	Almaty	653	12	19
87	Lisbon	652	13	18
88	Gibraltar	651	10	15
89	Barbados	650	2	7
90	Rio de Janeiro	649	4	3
91	Tallinn	648	10	15
92	Cyprus	647	5	9
93	Prague	646	7	12
94	Xi'an	645	4	9
95	Bangkok	644	2	4
96	Santiago	643	4	6
97	Jakarta	642	5	12
98	Monaco	641	9	14
99	Warsaw	640	3	1
100	Lagos	638		6
101	Riga	637	2	4
102	Nairobi	636	7	5
103	Bahamas	635	8	18
104	Istanbul	632	6	13
105	Ho Chi Minh City	629	3	6
106	Vilnius	627	3	2
107	Mexico City	626	2	6
108	Sofia	618	4	10
109	British Virgin Islands	617	2	7
110	Manila	616	9	15
111	Athens	615	6	12
112	Panama	614	3	6
113	Tehran	616	1	6
114	Budapest	609	1	5
115	Trinidad and Tobago	608	1	1
116	Bratislava	607
117	Bogotá	604		5
118	Saint Petersburg	597	2	10
119	Moscow	590	1	6
120	Baku	589	1	6
121	Buenos Aires	586		14

Ranking by region

Western Europe^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
2	London	750		3
10	Frankfurt	730	3	2
13	Geneva	726	6	12
14	Dublin	725	11	6
15	Paris	724	1	7
17	Zurich	722	1	7
19	Luxembourg	720	2	8
26	Lugano	713	9	4
27	Amsterdam	712	3	8
29	Edinburgh	710	4	1
30	Jersey	709	10	5
37	Glasgow	709	5
40	Copenhagen	699	1	6
43	Berlin	696	11	16
45	Munich	694	9	14

Asia/Pacific^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
3	Hong Kong	749	1	8
4	Singapore	747	1	5
8	Shanghai	738	2	1
9	Shenzhen	732	2	2
11	Seoul	729	1	6
18	Beijing	721	3	9
20	Tokyo	719	1	6
25	Busan	714	2	3
28	Sydney	711	10	15
31	Qingdao	708		5
32	Melbourne	707	4	9
34	Guangzhou	705	} 5	10
39	Chengdu	700	4	1
44	Osaka	695	3	2
46	Wellington	693	5	10

North America^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
1	New York	763		1
5	San Francisco	742		2
6	Chicago	740	3	4
7	Los Angeles	739	1	2
12	Washington, D.C.	728		5
21	San Diego	718		5
22	Boston	717		5
23	Toronto	716		5
24	Montreal	715	6	1
33	Minneapolis/St Paul	706	7	12
36	Miami	703	2	3
38	Calgary	701	4	9
41	Atlanta	698	4	1
42	Vancouver	697	4	1

Eastern Europe & Central Asia^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
62	Astana	677	4	1
86	Almaty	653	12	19
91	Tallinn	648	10	15
92	Cyprus	647	5	9
93	Prague	646	7	12
99	Warsaw	640	3	1
101	Riga	637	2	4
104	Istanbul	632	6	13
106	Vilnius	627	3	2
108	Sofia	618	3	10
111	Athens	615	6	12
114	Budapest	609	1	5
116	Bratislava	607
118	Saint Petersburg	597	2	10
119	Moscow	590	1	6
120	Baku	589	1	6

Middle East & Africa^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
16	Dubai	723	4	1
35	Abu Dhabi	704	2	3
48	Tel Aviv	691		5
57	Casablanca	682	1	6
60	Mauritius	679	1	4
63	Riyadh	676	21	16
64	Doha	675	24	19
67	Kigali	672		5
69	Kuwait City	670	11	6
75	Johannesburg	664	7	2
80	Bahrain	659	4	9
84	Cape Town	655	1	6
100	Lagos	638		6
102	Nairobi	636	7	5
113	Tehran	610	1	6

Latin America & Caribbean^[6]
Global Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
79	Bermuda	660	27	34
81	Cayman Islands	658	2	7
85	São Paulo	654		5
89	Barbados	650	2	7
90	Rio de Janeiro	649	4	3
96	Santiago	643	4	6
103	Bahamas	635	8	18
107	Mexico City	626	2	6
109	British Virgin Islands	617	2	7
112	Panama	614	3	6
115	Trinidad and Tobago	608	1	1
117	Bogotá	604		5
121	Buenos Aires	586		14

Financial centre profiles (GFCI 36, September 2024)

The latest report ranked 120 international financial centres into the following matrix:

Financial Centre Profiles (GFCI 36, September 2024)^[6]
Level	Broad and deep Global leaders	Relatively broad Global diversified	Relatively deep Global specialists	Emerging Global contenders
Global	London New York Washington, D.C. Paris Los Angeles Tokyo Zurich Amsterdam Dublin* Frankfurt	Singapore* Seoul Kuala Lumpur Brussels	Dubai Abu Dhabi Casablanca* Mauritius Hong Kong Luxembourg	Beijing* Istanbul* Shanghai*
Level	Broad and deep Established international	Relatively broad International diversified	Relatively deep International specialists	Emerging International contenders
International	Boston Chicago* Busan Edinburgh Berlin Rome Milan Geneva Montreal Toronto Munich Sydney Osaka Hamburg Melbourne Miami Vancouver Stuttgart	Bangkok Vienna* Madrid* Stockholm San Francisco* Athens Copenhagen*	Mumbai* GIFT City-Gujarat* Riyadh* Bermuda* Qingdao Shenzhen Tel Aviv Astana Jersey	Moscow Mexico City Panama* Bahamas Nairobi Bahrain Jakarta Doha Lagos New Delhi Johannesburg Cape Town Guangzhou* São Paulo Kigali* British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Taipei* Liechtenstein*
Level	Broad and deep Established players	Relatively broad Local diversified	Relatively deep Local specialists	Emerging Evolving centres
Local	Oslo* San Diego Glasgow Calgary* Minneapolis/St Paul Wellington	Santiago Lisbon Warsaw Prague Atlanta* Helsinki*	Rio de Janeiro* Tallinn* Malta Ho Chi Minh City* Chengdu Lugano Xi'an* Hangzhou* Wuhan* Tianjin* Reykjavík Monaco Nanjing Gibraltar Dalian	Baku Manila* Buenos Aires Sofia Riga Cyprus Saint Petersburg Budapest Tehran Bogotá* Guernsey* Bratislava Vilnius Almaty Trinidad and Tobago Barbados Isle of Man* Kuwait City

An asterisk (*) denotes centres that have moved between categories between GFCI 35 and GFCI 36.

Top 15 centres by area of competitiveness

This is run for five separate areas of competitiveness to assess how financial centres perform in each of the areas.^[6]

Level	Business environment	Human capital	Infrastructure	Financial sector development	Reputational and general
1	New York City	New York City	New York City	New York City	New York City
2	Singapore	London	Singapore	Singapore	London
3	London	Hong Kong	London	Shanghai	Singapore
4	Hong Kong	Singapore	Hong Kong	London	Hong Kong
5	Shanghai	San Francisco	Seoul	San Francisco	San Francisco
6	San Francisco	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Shanghai
7	Chicago	Chicago	Shenzhen	Chicago	Chicago
8	Los Angeles	Washington, D.C.	San Francisco	Hong Kong	Los Angeles
9	Seoul	Shanghai	Chicago	Beijing	Tokyo
10	Geneva	Tokyo	Shanghai	Washington, D.C.	Dublin
11	Beijing	Paris	Frankfurt	Shenzhen	Beijing
12	San Diego	Seoul	Beijing	Seoul	Dubai
13	Frankfurt	Zurich	Luxembourg	Geneva	Boston
14	Toronto	Dublin	Dubai	San Diego	Shenzhen
15	Shenzhen	San Diego	Washington, D.C.	Boston	Frankfurt

Key areas

The business environment factors aggregate and value the regulation, tax rates, levels of corruption, economic freedom and how difficult in general it is to do business. To measure regulation an online questionnaire has been used.

The human capital factors summarize the availability of a skilled workforce, the flexibility of the labour market, the quality of the business education and the skill-set of the workforce, and quality of life.

The infrastructure factors account for the price and availability of office space at the location, as well as public transport.

The financial sector development factors assess the volume and value of trading in capital markets and other financial markets, the cluster effect of the number of different financial service companies at the location, and employment and economic output indicators.

Reputational and general considers more subjective aspects such as innovation, brand appeal, cultural diversity and competitive positioning.

Top 15 centres by industry sector

The index provides sub-rankings in the main areas of financial services – banking, investment management, insurance, professional services, government and regulation, finance, fintech, and trading.^[6]

Level	Banking	Investment management	Insurance	Professional services	Government and regulatory	Finance	Fintech	Trading
1	New York City	Hong Kong	New York City	New York City	New York City	Shenzhen	New York City	New York City
2	Shenzhen	New York City	London	Singapore	Singapore	New York City	Singapore	Singapore
3	London	Shenzhen	Hong Kong	London	London	Hong Kong	London	Shanghai
4	Hong Kong	London	Shenzhen	Hong Kong	Shanghai	London	Hong Kong	Seoul
5	Shanghai	Singapore	Shanghai	Seoul	Hong Kong	Shanghai	San Francisco	London
6	Chicago	Shanghai	Beijing	San Francisco	Chicago	Chicago	Dubai	Los Angeles
7	Singapore	Dublin	Singapore	Los Angeles	Zurich	San Francisco	Frankfurt	Chicago
8	Beijing	San Francisco	San Francisco	Chicago	Luxembourg	Singapore	Seoul	Beijing
9	San Francisco	Frankfurt	Sydney	Zurich	Seoul	Beijing	Los Angeles	San Francisco
10	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Luxembourg	Beijing	Washington, D.C.	San Diego	Hong Kong
11	Frankfurt	Beijing	Tokyo	Dubai	Frankfurt	Tokyo	Chicago	Paris
12	Washington, D.C.	Tokyo	Zurich	Frankfurt	Washington, D.C.	Los Angeles	Toronto	Washington, D.C.
13	Geneva	Geneva	Chicago	Dublin	Tokyo	Dubai	Geneva	Frankfurt
14	Boston	Paris	Washington, D.C.	Shanghai	San Francisco	Seoul	Zurich	Tokyo
15	Paris	Chicago	Geneva	Shenzhen	Los Angeles	Frankfurt	Busan	Geneva

Reputation

The index measures a financial centre's reputation by calculating the difference between weighted average of financial professionals' opinions and the GFCI rating of each locale.^[6]

Top 15 Centres by Reputation
Centre	Weighted Average Assessment	GFCI 36 Rating	GFCI 36 Reputational Advantage
Chengdu	872	700	172
GIFT City-Gujarat	854	687	167
Shenzhen	872	732	140
Qingdao	823	708	115
Guangzhou	812	705	107
Mauritius	750	679	71
New York	826	763	63
London	810	750	60
Vilnius	685	627	58
Singapore	797	747	50
Washington DC	778	728	50
San Francisco	790	742	48
Hong Kong	797	749	48
Xi'an	690	645	45
Monaco	683	641	42

Bottom 15 Centres by Reputation
Centre	Weighted Average Assessment	GFCI 36 Rating	GFCI 36 Reputational Advantage
San Diego	657	718	-61
Edinburgh	648	710	-62
Atlanta	636	698	-62
Moscow	527	590	-63
Budapest	544	609	-65
Rio de Janeiro	544	609	-65
Calgary	581	649	-68
Warsaw	569	640	-71
Bratislava	534	607	-73
Beijing	636	721	-85
Buenos Aires	495	586	-91
Almaty	562	653	-91
Lagos	541	638	-97
Baku	483	589	-106
Minneapolis/St Paul	588	706	-118

References

^ Yeandle, Mark (September 2016). "The Global Financial Centres Index 20". Long Finance. Archived from the original on Jul 18, 2023.
^ Jones, Huw (24 March 2022). "New York widens lead over London in top finance centres index". Reuters. Archived from the original on Oct 8, 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022. Rankings are based on surveys and 150 factors, with quantitative measures from the World Bank, The Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD and United Nations.
^ Yoshio Okubo (October 2014). "Comparison of Global Financial Center" (PDF). Harvard Law School, Program on International Financial Systems, Japan-U.S. Symposium. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
^ Glover, John (17 March 2014). "New York Strips London of Mantle as World's Top Financial Center". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on Jun 9, 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
^ Pooler, Michael (1 October 2014). "New York and London vie for crown of world's top financial centre". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2 Oct 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "GFCI 36 Rank - Long Finance". www.longfinance.net. Retrieved 2024-09-24.

External links

Official website

[1] Yeandle, Mark (September 2016). "The Global Financial Centres Index 20". Long Finance. Archived from the original on Jul 18, 2023.

[factors_calculation-2] Jones, Huw (24 March 2022). "New York widens lead over London in top finance centres index". Reuters. Archived from the original on Oct 8, 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022. Rankings are based on surveys and 150 factors, with quantitative measures from the World Bank, The Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD and United Nations.

[3] Yoshio Okubo (October 2014). "Comparison of Global Financial Center" (PDF). Harvard Law School, Program on International Financial Systems, Japan-U.S. Symposium. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

[4] Glover, John (17 March 2014). "New York Strips London of Mantle as World's Top Financial Center". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on Jun 9, 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

[FT20150524-5] Pooler, Michael (1 October 2014). "New York and London vie for crown of world's top financial centre". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2 Oct 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.

[GFCI36-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "GFCI 36 Rank - Long Finance". www.longfinance.net. Retrieved 2024-09-24.

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