Dubai, Abu Dhabi Among the World’s Top Financial Centres

This year, both Dubai and Abu Dhabi managed to become two of the leading financial centres in the Middle East. In addition, these UAE’s cities sneaked among the first on the latest Global Financial Centres Index, which was released this month.

Dubai is the second highest rates financial centres in the Middle East region. The city takes the 29th spot this year and it is second to the region’s leader – Qatar. Even though Qatar dropped with two positions, its financial performance remains strong. Dubai witnessed an even bigger decline by falling with 4 spots. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, was among the Middle East cities with the highest rise. For just one year, it managed to improve its ranking with 10 positions. Bahrain and Riyadh also registered an impressive jump with 12 and 16 spots, respectively. All in all, researchers behind the Index state that the Middle Eastern financial centres have mostly improved their performance and ranking.

In Europe, things are not that bright. Nearly all financial centres from the continent dropped on the ranking. Among the cities which registered the most significant falls were Rome, Dublin, Madrid, Copenhagen, Lisbon and Edinburgh. In fact, the last two positions on the Index are occupied namely by European cities – Reykjavik (82) and Athens (83).

Even last year’s winner, London, was replaced by New York. This is actually the very first time in which the Big Apple becomes the world’s topping financial centre. Despite that, experts behind the report explain that its lead is “shaky” and unimpressive. That is because it has only 2 points more than London. As for the fall of London, the Index states that it has a lot to do with the possibility of Scotland leaving the Union.

Things look a bit more interesting in Asia. Although the continent’s biggest financial markets, Hong Kong (3) and Singapore (4), maintain their positions, the gap between them has become narrower. Most of the other financial centres in the region have climbed up the ranking. Shenzhen jumped with 9 positions, lading on the 18th post. Tokyo and Seoul also moved a few spots up and are currently occupying the 6th and the 7th positions, respectively.

Here are this year’s leading financial centres in the world:

New York
London
Hong Kong
Singapore
Zurich
Tokyo
Seoul
Boston
Geneva
San Fransisco
29. Dubai
32. Abu Dhabi

On a more global level, the report shared that volatile assessments saw a significant rise over the last one year. Even though the average assessments did witness a jump, their volatility also increased greatly.