The latest Global Financial Centres Index, released Thursday, showed Singapore’s score had climbed 13 points since March.
Compiled twice a year by London-based think tank Z/Yen Partners and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen, the index evaluates 135 financial hubs across five areas of competitiveness, drawing on both quantitative indicators and thousands of survey responses. The most recent edition incorporated 28,549 assessments from 4,877 respondents.
Singapore ranked second in Business Environment, third in Reputational & General, and placed fourth in Infrastructure, Human Capital, and Financial Sector Development.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, gained 4 points to hold onto third place and its title as Asia’s top financial center. It topped the world in Business Environment, Infrastructure, and Reputational & General, while taking second in Human Capital and third in Financial Sector Development.
The city previously lost Asia’s top spot in September 2022 to Singapore, but reclaimed the title last year.
Globally, New York retained the top spot, ahead of London, while San Francisco came in fifth, rounding out the top five.
“There is little change in the ranking of the leading centres, with the top ten centres remaining unchanged,” the report said, noting that the top four are in a tight race, each just a single point apart on the 1,000-point scale.
It noted that respondents tend to view their own financial center’s prospects more positively than outsiders do. Among the world’s top four hubs, confidence was strongest in Singapore about its future competitiveness.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the ranking also featured Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur (45th), Indonesia’s Jakarta (91st), Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (95th), Thailand’s Bangkok (102nd) and the Philippines’ Manila (104th).
