Asian financial centres in the limelight

While financial centres in Asia are earning prominence, those in the Middle East are dropping, according to the newest Global Financial Centres Index released by London think-tank Z/Yen.

Singapore remained at the 4th spot ahead of Tokyo at fifth place. Occupying the top three spots are London, New York and Hong Kong, according to the bi-annual index ranking of 75 international financial centres.

The top four financial centres control a large percentage of financial transactions, which include more than 70 percent of equity trading. They also shared the top four places in each of the five sub-categories of competitiveness – business environment, general competitiveness, infrastructure, market access and people.

“This indicates they are very strong in all five areas of competitiveness,” said the report.

The results were based on a poll of 1,876 respondents who work in financial services, 796 or 42 percent of them were based in Asia, as well as indices measuring several aspects of competitiveness of a city.

Both Singapore and Hong Kong have been growing in competitiveness since the index’s second reading was released in September 2007.

Shanghai made it to the top 10 for the first time, rising five notches to the sixth spot, ahead of Chicago, Zurich, Geneva and Sydney.

Respondents said Asian cities including Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore and Seoul would likely become more significant in the future.

Meanwhile, Dubai fell four notches to the 28th place, though it remained the top financial centre in the Middle East, followed by Qatar and Bahrain. However, it is no longer included in the top six centres that will likely grow in significance in the future.

Majority of offshore financial centres, which include Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, also slipped in the newest rankings.

“Many offshore centres are regarded as tax havens and there has been significant pressure applied to these centres by many national regulators as well as international bodies,” said the report.