Toronto’s rating as a global financial centre is up in the latest global rankings from London, U.K.-based think tank Z/Yen Group Ltd., but other cities have gained much more, pushing Canada’s financial capital out of the top 10.
Z/Yen Group released the 20th edition of its global financial centres index (GFCI 20) on Monday, and it continues to rank London as the top financial centre in the world. New York ranks second, with Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo rounding out the top five.
Toronto, whose ratings increased over the past year, remains the top-rated Canadian city, but it has slipped to 13th place from 10th in the global rankings as it has been surpassed by several cities, including Chicago, which now ranks eighth globally, up from 11th in last year’s rankings.
Z/Yen Group’s ratings for all of the North American centres it evaluates increased from the previous year, except for Calgary, which dropped to 34th in the index from 28th last year as a result of its reliance on the struggling energy sector finance.
Conversely, the rise of financial technology helped push San Francisco and Boston up the rankings to second and third, respectively, as financial centres in North America, Z/Yen Group’s study says.
Montreal’s ranking has also jumped to 15th place, up from 21st in last year’s index, and Vancouver is up to 20th from 22nd.
Looking ahead, the Z/Yen Group study notes that the latest index does not account for the impact of the Brexit vote, as the assessments were made before the results of that vote was known.
Early results since then finds that London’s rankings are down significantly from previous levels, and as such, the next edition of the index “may show some significant changes,” the Z/Yen Group study says.
“Changes in perceptions following the Brexit referendum are not yet reflected in the GFCI. However, early signs are that London could see a decline next time round. Which centres may gain from this is hard to predict,” says Mark Yeandle, associate director with the Z/Yen Group and the author of the GFCI, in a statement.
In addition, the study notes that Western Europe “remains a region in flux,” with Luxembourg and Dublin rising in the ratings and Geneva and Amsterdam falling. In Asia, seven of the top 10 Asia/Pacific centres saw their ratings fall. In contrast, Australasian centres are doing well, as are offshore financial centres (such as Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands). Elsewhere, ratings for Middle Eastern and Latin American centres are declining whereas the Caribbean is up.
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