Singapore now 3rd top financial centre in the world, overtakes Hong Kong as best in Asia

In this year’s Global Financial Centres Index’s top five financial centres around the globe, Singapore is now in third place.

The Little Red Dot has actually overtaken Hong Kong to take pole position in Asia, Bloomberg reported on Friday (Sept 23).

The Index lists New York as ranked first in the world, followed by London and Singapore. 

Due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and talents leaving the city, Hong Kong, which used to be in third place, is now in fourth place.

San Francisco is number five on the list, while Shanghai, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shenzhen and Paris round out the top 10.

One hundred and nineteen financial centres are rated in the GFCI list, using “data collected from thousands of financial services professionals responding to an online questionnaire.”

Restrictive policies surrounding the pandemic, even while other economies have opened, have affected Hong Kong.

China, however, in spite of isolating itself from much of the world during the pandemic, has kept three cities in the top ten: Shanghai in sixth place, Beijing in eighth, and Shenzhen in ninth place.

And while, as reported by Bloomberg, a summit of worldwide bankers in Hong Kong in November has brought in pledges from around 20 top firms to send executives, concerns over quarantine rules remain and may even result in poor attendance at the summit.

Meanwhile, Singapore has seen a boom in business and entertainment events, including next weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as well as the SuperReturn conference, which ends today.

Other big upcoming events are the Milken Institute Asia Summit and the Forbes Global CEO Conference, as well as concerts from The Script, Jay Chou, Justin Bieber and Maroon 5.

The big loser in this year’s GFCI is Russia, with Moscow tumbling 22 spaces.  The capital is now ranked at 73, while St Petersburg, which used to be in the top hundred, fell 17 places and is now in 114th place.

The tumble Russia’s cities took may be attributed to the costly war President Vladimir Putin has waged against Ukraine, which started in February.

In the Middle East, Dubai (in 17th place) and Abu Dhabi (ranked 32nd) ranked the highest.

In Asia, following Singapore and Hong Kong, the top two positions are Shanghai (3), Beijing (4), Shenzhen (5), Seoul (6), Sydney (7), Tokyo (8), Guangzhou (9), and Busan (10).

As for Singapore’s nearest neighbours, Kuala Lumpur ranks 36th while Jakarta is at 95th. /TISG

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