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.^[1] It was first 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.^[2] It is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.^[3][4][5]

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GFCI 37 (March 2025)

The 37th edition of the GFCI was published in March 2025.^[6]

Top 20 Centres in GFCI 37 (March 2025)^[6]

Rank	Centre	Rating	Change in rank	Change in rating
1	New York City	769		6
2	London	762		12
3	Hong Kong	760		11
4	Singapore	750		3
5	San Francisco	749		7
6	Chicago	746		6
7	Los Angeles	745		6
8	Shanghai	744		6
9	Shenzhen	743		11
10	Seoul	742	1	13
11	Frankfurt	741	1	11
12	Dubai	740	4	17
13	Washington, D.C.	739	1	11
14	Dublin	738		13
15	Geneva	737	2	11
16	Luxembourg	736	3	16
17	Paris	730	2	11
18	Amsterdam	734	9	22
19	Boston	733	3	16
20	Beijing	732	2	11

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)^[7]

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* 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.^[7]

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.^[7]

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