shenzhen ranked 19th in the latest ratings of global financial centers, advancing four positions with 688 points, according to the global financial centers index (gfci), a report released by the z/yen group on wednesday.
the city is the second city on the chinese mainland, following shanghai, among the top 20. shanghai ranked 16th and advanced five places with 693 points in the 1,000-point rating system.
london, new york, singapore and hong kong remained the four leading global financial centers. on a scale of 1,000 points, a lead of fewer than 20 points indicates relative parity. london remained just ahead of new york, climbing four points in the ratings to lead new york by eight points. new york (2nd) is now 37 points ahead of singapore (3rd). singapore is two points ahead of hong kong (4th), the report showed.
the gfci provides profiles, rating and rankings for 86 financial centers, drawing on two separate sources of data. it uses 24,495 financial center assessments completed by 2,520 financial services professionals.
the ratings of beijing, taipei, dalian and qingdao also advanced. hong kong dropped one place in the ranking.
an earlier report by the z/yen group comparing shenzhen with eight other financial centers, including hong kong, shanghai, singapore, seoul and boston, indicated that shenzhen had advantages in operating costs, economic potential and investment environment. but it is inferior in world popularity, infrastructure, financial regulations, and government size and efficiency.
the gfci was first produced by the z/yen group in 2005.
the aim of the gfci is to examine the major financial centers' global competitiveness. the index is calculated every three months and formally published every six months.
