In March 2007, the City of London launched the Global Financial
Centres Index (GFCI). The GFCI is a ranking of the competitiveness
of financial centres based on a number of existing indices in
combination with a regular survey of senior industry figures from
around the world.
GFCI 4 was published in September 2008 and the
report can be downloaded from the link below. We are currently
collecting data for the next cycle of the GFCI and we would be
grateful for your opinions on any financial centres with which you
are familiar. Please be assured that answers will be kept
confidential, and will be used only to compile the GFCI. The survey
should take less than five minutes to complete. We will send you a
copy of our report. Take the survey now.
Download GFCI 4 report (1.13mb)
Background
The GFCI builds upon previous independent research commissioned
by the City of London Corporation to evaluate London’s relative
competitiveness as a financial centre:
- Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, “Sizing up the
City – London’s Ranking as a Financial Centre”, City of London
Corporation (June 2003)
- Z/Yen, “The Competitive Position of London as a Global
Financial Centre”, City of London Corporation (November
2005).
These studies concluded that the key factors for financial
centre competitiveness were, in order of importance:
- the availability of skilled personnel;
- the regulatory environment;
- access to international financial markets;
- the availability of business infrastructure;
- access to customers;
- a fair and just business environment;
- government responsiveness;
- the corporate tax regime;
- operational costs;
- access to suppliers of professional services;
- the quality of life;
- cultural and language issues;
- the quality and availability of commercial property;
- the personal tax regime.
Both reports compared London with other financial centres
including New York City, Frankfurt and Paris. The GFCI builds upon
these reports and ranks financial centres on an ongoing
basis.
How the GFCI is compiled