HK stays 3rd in Z/Yen global financial hub survey

Hong Kong retained third position in a closely-watched index of the world's leading financial centres, ahead of Singapore.

A Government spokesman said, "The report fully recognises Hong Kong's leading status and strengths as an international financial centre. Hong Kong's rankings in the areas of 'human capital', 'infrastructure', and 'financial sector development' rose to second in the world, while rankings in 'business environment' and 'reputational and general' rose to third globally."
 
Hong Kong also ranked among the top in various financial industry sectors. Among these, Hong Kong ranked first globally in "investment management", "insurance" and "finance", and ranked third globally in "banking". In addition, the report assessed the financial centres' fintech offering, and Hong Kong's ranking leapt further by five places to fourth in the world.

The GFCI 37 index was compiled using quantitative measures provided by third parties including the World Bank, United Nations and the OECD and 4,946 responses to the GFCI online questionnaire from industry participants.

 London is gaining ground on New York, in a first sign that efforts by policymakers to reboot Britain's sluggish banking and investment industry have started to bear fruit.

The U.S. city has held the top position in think tank Z/Yen's Global Financial Centres Index since September 2018 but London closed the gap to just seven points after rising 12 points in the 37th publication of the survey published on Thursday.

San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Shenzhen were also unchanged in fifth to ninth positions.

Seoul re-entered the top 10 centres in this edition of the index and in the top 20 rankings, Dubai rose four places to 12th position and Amsterdam rose nine places to 18th.

REUTERS AND STAFF REPORTER