Earlier this week, we published the eighth Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 8). This index is sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and features ranks and ratings of 75 financial centres. GFCI 8 is part of the Financial Centre Futures which is itself a theme of the Long Finance initiative.

The big change from GFCI 7 in March 2010 is that Hong Kong has clearly joined London and New York as one of the ‘Big Three’ Global Financial Centres. Key points from GFCI 8 include:

• Hong Kong (760) has steadily closed the gap with London and New York over three years - now just 10 points behind New York compared with 76 in March 2007;
• there has been no significant difference between London (772) and New York (770) in the GFCI ratings since GFCI was first published in 2007;
• Singapore (728) is currently the most likely contender to become the fourth global financial centre;
• Confidence in the future of financial centres has fallen since GFCI 7, as shown by lower overall ratings – 53 centres having lower ratings in GFCI 8 compared with just 17 centres having higher ratings (five have the same ratings as in GFCI 7);
• Asia continues to rise, with Shanghai now into the top ten and Seoul into the top 25;
• Financial centres tipped to become more significant in the next few years are all Asian – Singapore, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and Seoul;
• Since the financial crises began, all offshore centres show larger falls than average.

GFCI 8 uses 33,023 financial centre assessments completed by 1,876 financial services professionals. To view GFCI 8 or to participate in GFCI 9 by rating the financial centres with which you are familiar, please click here. If you would like a hard copy of the report please email Z/Yen to request one.