DIFC and ADGM Top Financial Centres in MENA

Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been ranked first and second in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with Dubai rising four rank places to 12^th in the 37^th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37).

While Casablanca took the first place and has been the leading African centre, Mauritius ranked fourth in the region, ahead of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, and Johannesburg each fell more than 10 ranking places.

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 have collaborated in producing the GFCI, which is updated and published every March and September, and receives considerable attention from the global financial community.

As many as 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.

New York Top Rankings

At the global level, New York was ranked first among all financial centres in the world and it was followed by London in the second place and Hong Kong retained the third place ahead of Singapore. San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Shenzhen were unchanged from fifth to ninth positions and Seoul re-entered the top 10 centres in latest GFCI.

Interestingly, the UK’s exit from European Union had no impact as it had continued to lead Western Europe. Some seven centres featured from Western Europe in the top 20 in GFCI 37.

In Asia Pacific, six centres features in the top 20 and 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.

In the US, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles remain in the world top 10, with Washington DC and Boston also in the top 20. All centres other than San Diego improved their ratings, and Miami and Vancouver rose 10 or more places in the rankings.

In the Eastern Europe & Central Asia region, Astana remained in the lead position in the region, followed by Tallinn and Cyprus. Eight centres in this region fell in the rankings, with Prague falling 13 rank places but Riga rose nine rank places.

Coming to 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.

New York again took the leading in the finTech offering among the 115 financial centres globally. This was followed by London and Shenzhen respectively.

Hong Kong rose five rank places, overtaking the 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, GFCI 37 said.