Toronto ranks second only to New York as a global financial centre based in North America, according to a new ranking released today.
London-based consulting firm Z/Yen Group published the latest edition of its Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) today, which ranks 84 financial centres in terms of competitiveness, based on both an online survey and assessments of certain fundamental factors. The latest version of the index ranks London as the world’s No. 1 financial centre, surpassing New York. Toronto ranks eighth, up three spots from the previous ranking, surpassing Chicago and San Francisco, to sit second only to New York within North America.
“Toronto seems to get stronger and stronger,” says a New York-based investment banker who is quoted anonymously in the report. “A number of our rivals have opened up subsidiaries there.”
According to the index, London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore remain the four leading global financial centres, followed by Tokyo in fifth place. Seoul and Zurich rank sixth and seventh, respectively, just ahead of Toronto, with San Francisco and Washington, D.C. rounding out the top 10.
All of the North American cities in the index saw their scores increase. However, the report notes that, due to the continuing rise of some Asian centres, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver and Calgary all suffered small declines in their rankings.
The leading centres in Europe, beyond London, are Zurich and Geneva, followed by Frankfurt and Luxembourg. The report notes that 23 of the 29 cities in this region rose in the latest ratings, with Dublin doing particularly well. Twelve of the top 15 Asia-Pacific cities also saw their ratings rise. In South America, Sao Paulo is the highest-rated centre for the region, followed by Rio de Janeiro.