LONDON has been overtaken by New York as the top global financial centre in a key survey, with mainland European cities seen as Brexit beneficiaries surging up the table and Glasgow and Edinburgh retaining top-50 positions.
The report, by London-based think-tank Z/Yen Partners in conjunction with China Development Institute, puts Edinburgh in 43rd position, an identical ranking to that given to the Scottish capital in the previous survey published in March.
Glasgow occupies 50th spot in the latest survey, down from 49th in the March report, even though its total score rose from 614 to 622 out of 1,000 points. Edinburgh’s score rose from 628 to 634.
Zurich and Frankfurt, which Z/Yen noted were viewed as potential beneficiaries of Brexit, climbed the table. Frankfurt rose from 20th to 10th place, as its score increased from 708 to 730. Zurich climbed from 16th to ninth, as its points total rose from 713 to 732. Amsterdam jumped from 50th to 35th, Vienna moved from 64th to 51st, and Milan climbed from 61st to 56th.
An insurance underwriter based in London, responding to the survey, said: “Frankfurt is definitely winning some business this year and Brexit will continue to help it.”
And a pension fund manager based in London said: “Getting very fed up with Brexit – we cannot continue to operate with [so] much uncertainty. Many of the staff here are trying to plan for their futures.”
Z/Yen does not name the survey respondents quoted in the report.
The report states: “Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Milan moved up the rankings significantly. These centres may be the main beneficiaries of the uncertainty caused by Brexit; surprisingly, despite some evident success in attracting new business, Dublin, Munich, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Stockholm fell in the rankings, reflecting respondents’ views of their future prospects.”
London dropped to second position, as its score fell from 794 to 786. New York moved to top, from second place in Z/Yen’s last Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) report in the spring, even though its score dipped from 793 to 788.
Hong Kong remained in third spot, and Singapore stayed in fourth position.
Shanghai overtook Tokyo to claim fifth spot. The Japanese capital fell to sixth place.
Sydney rose from ninth to seventh spot. And Beijing moved from 11th to eighth position.
London is only three points ahead of Hong Kong in the latest survey.
Z/Yen noted it had researched 110 financial centres in its latest survey, which was compiled using 137 “instrumental factors”.
It noted these quantitative measures were provided by third parties including the World Bank, The Economist Intelligence Unit, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the United Nations. They include household wealth and income, competitiveness, innovation, quality of roads and transport networks, business environment rankings, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality.
The report combines these factors with 31,326 financial centre assessments collected from 2,453 financial services professionals who responded to the GFCI online questionnaire.
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