Hong Kong still the world's third best financial centre

It has the top investment management sector worldwide.

Hong Kong has closed the gap with its global financial hub rivals, finishing only two points behind London in the latest ranking of the world’s financial centres by the London think tank Z/Yen and the China Development Institute.

New York topped the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), extending its lead over London by over 17 points. Singapore finished fourth at only nine points behind Hong Kong, whilst Shanghai rounded-up the top five.

By areas of competitiveness, Hong Kong ranked second globally when it came to human capital (quality of life, labour market, skilled workforce), infrastructure, and reputation. It also finished third for business environment and financial sector development.

Also read: Hong Kong retains crown as world's freest economy for the 37th year

Sector-wise, Hong Kong has the top investment management sector worldwide, above regional rivals Shanghai, Singapore and Shenzhen. Both the professional services sector and the banking sector finished second; whilst its government and regulatory sector, and its insurance sector, were third and fourth in their indices, respectively.

Hong Kong was also the seventh most competitive financial centre for fostering the FinTech industry. Mainland China cities dominated the list, with Beijing and Shanghai occupying the top two spots whilst Guangzhou and Shenzhen finished at fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Interestingly, survey respondents counted Hong Kong as amongst the financial centres that will benefit substantially from Brexit.

In Asia Pacific, Tokyo and Beijing rounded up the top five as they climbed in ratings. Beijing jumped two places to rank seventh globally whilst Shenzhen jumped five places to land itself as the ninth best financial centres worldwide. Tokyo remained at sixth place.

Mumbai, Wellington, and Chengdu showed strong increases in the current index. In contrast, Melbourne fell four places after a strong performance in the March index.

The report noted that most APAC cities performed well in the survey. “There has been a strong trend of Asia Pacific centres improving over several years. The top seven centres in the region are now in the top 15 centres in the index,” the report read.