Authors
Mike Wardle, Professor Michael Mainelli

Published by
Long Finance & Financial Centre Futures (March 2025), 61 pages. Produced by Z/Yen in partnership with CDI.

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The Global Financial Centres Index 37

The thirty-seventh edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37) was published on 20 March 2025. GFCI 37 provides evaluations of future competitiveness and rankings for 119 financial centres around the world. The GFCI serves as a valuable reference for policy and investment decision-makers.

China Development Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen and Z/Yen Partners in London collaborate in producing the GFCI. The GFCI is updated and published every March and September, and receives considerable attention from the global financial community.

133 financial centres were researched for GFCI 37 of which 119 are in the main index. The GFCI is compiled using 140 instrumental factors. These quantitative measures are provided by third parties including the World Bank, the OECD, and the United Nations.

The instrumental factors are combined with financial centre assessments provided by respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire. GFCI 37 uses 31,314 assessments from 4,946 respondents.

GFCI 37 Results

Leading Centres

  • New York leads the index, with London second. Hong Kong retains third position ahead of Singapore.
  • San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are unchanged in fifth to ninth positions. Seoul re-entered the top 10 centres in this edition of the index.

Western Europe

  • London continues to lead in the region, with seven Western European centres featuring in the top 20 in GFCI 37.
  • The average rating across this region increased by 2.14%.
  • All centres other than Reykjavik rose in the ratings in comparison with GFCI 36.

Asia/Pacific

  • Six Asia/Pacific centres feature in the world top 20, and the average rating for this region is up 2.06%.
  • All centres in the region improved their rating. Hangzhou, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and GIFT City-Gujarat rose six or more rank places. Dalian fell 9 rank places.

North America

  • New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles remain in the world top 10, with Washington DC and Boston also in the top 20.
  • On average, ratings for centres in this region rose 1.41%.
  • All centres other than San Diego improved their ratings, and Miami and Vancouver rose 10 or more places in the rankings.

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

  • Astana remains in the lead position in the region, followed by Tallinn and Cyprus.
  • The average rating change across this region was an increase of 2.48% with all centres other than Prague improving their rating.
  • Eight centres fell in the rankings, with Prague falling 13 rank places. Riga rose nine rank places.

Middle East & Africa

  • Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to take first and second places in the region, with Dubai rising four rank places to 12th in GFCI 37.
  • Casablanca takes first place and is the leading African centre, while Mauritius ranks fourth in the region, ahead of Tel Aviv.
  • The average rating change across this region was an increase of 1.64%.
  • Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, and Johannesburg each fell more than 10 ranking places.
  • Tel Aviv was the only centre to fall in the ratings.

Latin America & The Caribbean

  • Sao Paulo rose seven rank places to take the lead in the region. British Virgin Islands and Trinidad & Tobago also rose in the ratings, and Buenos Aires was level, while other centres fell in the rankings.
  • Average ratings in the index improved by 2.23% in the region, with all centres rising in the GFCI ratings.

FinTech

  • We are able to assess 115 centres for their Fintech offering.New York retains its leading position in the Fintech ranking, followed by London and Shenzhen.
  • Hong Kong rose five rank places, overtaking US centres and Singapore to take fourth position.
  • Oslo, Mauritius, and Riyadh improved by over 20 places in the Fintech rankings. Six centres fell more than 15 places.