News

NYC takes joint place with London for leading financial centre

30 March 2023 By Sarah Neish

The City of London Corporation’s annual survey reveals that New York has risen from second place to tie with London for the world’s most important finance hub.

The annual survey by the City of London Corporation (the governing body of the Square Mile) benchmarks the performance of key financial centres around the world. Its latest results show that in 2023 New York has risen up from second place to take joint first position with London.

More than 95 different metrics are looked at in the survey, including green finance activity across all asset classes.

London received an overall competitiveness score of 60, down from 61 in 2022, while New York increased its score to 60 from 59.

The City attributed the change to the number of international company listings made in London falling, with more firms choosing to list in the US.

Finance sector officials in the UK have called for faster reforms of financial rules to boost London’s competitiveness following Brexit.

“The UK remains one of the most open and global financial centres with better access to international markets than the US, France, or Japan. But our competitive advantage is at risk,” said Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation.

Singapore is now in third place with a score of 51, Frankfurt tallied 46 points, Paris racked up 43, and Tokyo made it into the top six with a score of 35.

The drinks business has reported that Singapore is becoming an ever bigger fish in international finance with many in the drinks trade dubbing it “the new Hong Kong”.

Vinexpo Asia has made the decision to move its annual trade fair to Singapore from Hong Kong for the first time this year (the show is due to take place on 23-25 May)).

Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium, told db that the location change was a strategic move in order to reach a broader global marketplace.

“Singapore stands out as an obvious choice for serving the interests of the entire Asia-Pacific region, and acts as a magnet, not only for Chinese clients, but also Australians, South Koreans, Thais, Japanese and Vietnamese, to name a few,” he said.

John Geber, owner of Barossa Valley winery Château Tanunda called Singapore “the shock absorber of Asia”.

“It’s all about financial mobility there. Capital flight is on!” he told db.