The Corporation of London has just published a piece of research conducted by Z/Yen into the competitive position of international financial centres. We asked senior decision makers about the key factors of competitive advantage, and how the world's major financial centres ranked against these criteria. The availability of skilled personnel and the regulatory environment are the two most important factors.

London and New York are the only two genuinely global financial centres. Respondents believe that other financial centres such as Frankfurt, Paris and most of the Asian centres will remain national financial centres.

Part of the continuing appeal of London to foreign companies is its cosmopolitan status. Frankfurt & Tokyo, for example, are primarily markets for domestic participants to which foreign players are granted access. London, and to some extent, New York are characterised by foreigners trading with each other.

Views on a third global financial centre are split. Most people agree that if a third global financial centre develops it is most likely to be in China and probably in Shanghai. Respondents thought it unlikely that Hong Kong, Singapore or Tokyo will become more than regional financial centres.

Global financial centres have emerged around pools of market liquidity. Liquidity is very hard to move. Now that London is established as a global financial centre, it will take a number of significant factors, acting over a long period to alter the status quo. The full report can be downloaded here.