Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have been named three of the world’s 50 worldwide centers of commerce.

MasterCard Worldwide today made the announcement as part of its new groundbreaking research effort, the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce program, designed to provide insights and knowledge on how leading cities influence the global economy.

Central to this new research platform and unveiled today is the first annual MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index, the most comprehensive analysis to date of how major cities compare in performing critical functions that connect markets and commerce globally.

The index, developed by a panel of leading global economists, lists and ranks the top 50 Centers of Commerce based on six measurement dimensions consisting of over 100 data points. It places London first, followed by New York, Tokyo, Chicago and Hong Kong in the top five.

Toronto ranked 12th and Montreal and Vancouver ranked 27th and 28th respectively.

“The strong performance of Canadian cities as Worldwide Centers of Commerce reinforces how fortunate we are to live and do business here,” said Kevin Stanton, president, MasterCard Canada, in a news release. “Canadian cities stand shoulder-to-shoulder with leading global economic centres.”

As part of the overall ranking, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal ranked first, second and third respectively as the easiest places in the world for doing business. A strong national health care system, excellent infrastructure, low traffic and easy access to public transportation helped make the three cities most attractive for doing business.

Toronto ranks sixth and Vancouver seventh in terms of commercial real estate development, which is an indication of the relative straightforwardness of commercial real-estate development.

The Canadian cities all rank within the top 30 of the Knowledge Creation and Information Flow dimension. Among the top 50 cities, the term “Toronto” receives the eighth highest number of Google hits in any language. Vancouver ranks 14th and Montreal ranks 24th in terms of their respective number of Google hits. All three cities rank in the top 10 for broadband access per thousand people.

Within the trading across borders sub index of the Legal and Political Framework dimension, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal tie for No. 5 behind Munich, which is behind the three Canadian cities on the overall global Legal and Political Framework dimension.

A link to the full report is available at www.mastercard.ca.

“A prerequisite for success in today’s global marketplace is an in-depth understanding of how cities are connected and how they grow,” said Robert Selander, president and chief executive officer, MasterCard Worldwide. “The Worldwide Centers of Commerce program addresses this need by identifying and providing industry-leading insights into the characteristics and commonalities of cities that advance global commerce most.”