The Global Financial Centres Index 22 Launch

Information

The Global Financial Centres Index 22 (GFCI 22) was launched simultaneously in Chengdu, China and Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates on September 11, 2017. GFCI 22 was jointly compiled by the Z/Yen group and CDI. 108 financial centres were scored and ranked from the perspectives of business environment, financial system, infrastructure, human capital, and reputation.

Date: September 11, 2017

Venue: Tianfu Fund Town, Chengdu
Host: CDI, Z/Yen Group
Theme: The Global Financial Centres Index 22

Program

14:30-15:00 Registration

15:00-15:10 Opening Remarks

XIE Ruiwu, Municipal party committee member and Executive Vice Mayor, CPC Chengdu

15:10-15:30 GFCI 22 Launch

Michael MAINELLI, Director, Z/Yen Group

15:30-15:50 GFCI 22 Greater China Financial Centres Review

YU Lingqu, Deputy Director, Department of Finance and Modern Industry, CDI

15:50-16:10 Q&A

Michael MAINELLI, Director, Z/Yen Group

LIANG Qizhou, Secretary of the Leading Party Group and General Director, Chengdu Municipal Bureau Of Financial Work

YU Lingqu, Deputy Director, Department of Finance and Modern Industry, CDI

16:10 Conclusion

Highlights

London and New York remain in first and second places. Interestingly, despite the ongoing Brexit negotiations, London only fell two points, the smallest decline in the top ten centres. Hong Kong has moved just ahead of Singapore into third – only two points ahead on a scale of 1,000. Tokyo remains in fifth.

There are seven cities across the Chinese mainland rated in the GFCI 22, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian and the newcomer Chengdu. Among them, Shanghai got 711 points and ranks 6th, rising 7 places in the rankings. Beijing rose 6 places to the 10th position. Shenzhen got 689 points and ranks 20th, rising 2 places. Shanghai, Beijing ,and Shenzhen are in the top 20 financial centres. Guangzhou ranks 32nd and Qingdao ranks 47th. Chengdu, first enlisted in the GFCI rankings from the associate centres list, ranks 86th and got 604 points. Dalian fell to 92nd.

Western European financial centres are still volatile. Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam all rose, but Zurich, Geneva, and Luxembourg fell in the ratings. Overall assessments for the European centres continued to fluctuate as people speculate about which centres might benefit from London leaving the EU.

The leading financial centres in the Asia/Pacific region fell in the GFCI ratings. All of the top ten centres in the region fell in the ratings with Singapore, Tokyo, and Osaka all showing marked declines.

All centres in North America fell in the GFCI ratings. New York fell. San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Washington also saw large falls. The decline of Canadian centres was less severe than the falls of the USA centres.

All of the Eastern European centres rose in the ratings. Cyprus, Athens, St Petersburg, and Moscow reversed some of their recent declines.

Financial centres in the Middle East and Africa showed mixed results in GFCI 22. Dubai and Casablanca fell slightly, but other centres in the region did well.

Latin American and Caribbean centres did well. The Caribbean centres of the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas saw strong rises. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro also did well.

European ‘island’ centres did well. The British Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man all per-formed strongly and there were also strong rises for Malta, Reykjavik, and Gibraltar.

The GFCI provides profiles, rating and rankings for 108 financial centres, drawing on two separate sources of data – 102 instrumental factors (five broad ‘areas’ of competitiveness, namely business environment, financial sector development, infrastructure, human capital and reputational factors) measured externally and 23,812 financial centre assessments by 2,058 international financial professionals in an ongoing online questionnaire. It was first published in 2007 and then updated and republished each September and March.