Source: Eurosnews
The US has five financial centres in the global top 10 while Europe only pulls in two, but how do European cities rank among themselves?
In the rapidly evolving landscape of global finance, European cities are in fierce competition to establish themselves as robust financial centres – an attractive label that can bring with it crucial investment from business owners and heightened attention from policymakers.
In a recent ranking by the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), seven European cities feature in the world’s top 20 financial hubs.
While the US dominates the upper end of the list, with New York taking the number one spot, London continues to lead in Europe.
It has slightly closed in on the Big Apple compared to the previous rankings and places second globally, but is only just ahead of Singapore and Hong Kong in third and fourth place respectively.
How do other European cities fare and what are the factors that make a city a competitive financial centre?
Geneva soars
Switzerland’s Geneva is the only other European city to join the British capital in the top 10.
Increasing its rating by 29 points, Geneva has leapfrogged its financial rivals over the past year, according to the GFCI, climbing from the 23rd to 10th place.
The Swiss city is just five points behind the fifth place, occupied by San Francisco.
Analysts cite Switzerland’s regulatory environment and low levels of corruption as huge advantages for the financial strength of its cities.
The EU’s financial capital overtakes Paris
Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, has snagged the third top European spot from Paris in the latest report.
Known as the City of the Euro, Frankfurt is also the home of Germany’s central bank: the Bundesbank.
The German financial hub rose from the 17th to 14th place globally in the GFCI, whereas Paris slipped from the 14th to 15th. Only one rating point separates them, however.
Frankfurt is also among the 15 cities that participants in the survey expect to gain in significance.
The European cities rounding out the top 20 are Luxembourg (16th), Zurich (18th) and Amsterdam (19th).
THE AUTHOR: Servet Yanatma
