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BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Finance: Global financial centers index announced

(People's Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-23 16:03

The Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI), the world's first index of
competitiveness for financial centers around the globe, reveals that
London is the financial hub of the world, followed by New York, Hong Kong
and Singapore. Shanghai ranked 24th and Beijing 36th.

The report, published by the City of London, ranks for the first time the
competitiveness of 46 of the world's biggest financial centers. Cities
were ranked according to human resources, the business environment,
market access, infrastructure and comprehensive competitiveness.

The report found that London and New York are the only truly global
financial centers, providing a broad range of services for global trade.
Hong Kong has the strictest legal system and most experienced personnel,
and is already the most important financial center in the Asian region.
Provided the Asian financial market doesn't experience any major
fluctuations, Hong Kong is likely to become another global financial
center.

Owing to the shortage of human resources, inadequate market controls and
problems in the enterprise environment, neither Shanghai, the financial
center of mainland China, nor Tokyo, which was ranked ninth globally,
were able to compete with Hong Kong.

The report on the Index found that the primary factors in financial
competitiveness were changing. Two years ago, human resources and
technology were considered the primary factors in competitiveness; this
year, the finance industry is more interested in policy controls and the
tax environment.

A national expert on finance confirmed recently that Shanghai was the
financial center of the mainland, but cautioned that there was a long way
to go before it became competitive as a global financial center.

The Global Financial Centers Index was compiled by British company, Z/Yen
Research, and will be published every two years.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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