Financial centres are a core pillar of the modern economy, channelling capital, facilitating trade, and driving innovation across the world.
The 37th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37) compiles the world’s most competitive financial centres using 140 quantitative measures from the World Bank, OECD, and UN sources. The measures are also combined with assessments collected by respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire. In total, the GFCI 37 used 31,314 assessments from 4,946 respondents.
The quantitative factors used in the GFCI model are grouped into five areas of competitiveness including 1) the business environment in terms of transparency and stability of systems, and regulatory complexity, 2) the human capital meaning the access to skill professionals and investment in education, 3) the infrastructure, and the quality of physical and digital infrastructure, 4) the financial sector development and its accessibility to clients and the development of digital solutions, 5) the reputation in terms of trustworthiness of legal and regulatory systems.
While North America has four centres in the top 10: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles, London remains the region’s dominant centre.
Asia Pacific has six centres in the top 20, with four belonging to China (Hong Kong SAR, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing).
The Middle East and Africa region’s leading centres are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with Dubai climbing four places to 12th in GFCI 37. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, and Johannesburg each fell more than ten places.
