Capital dips in ratings of world’s top finance cities

Edinburgh has fallen out of the top 30 financial and banking cities in the world for the first time, according to a survey released yesterday.

But while Edinburgh is down three places, the half-yearly poll shows that Glasgow has raced up 11 places, taking 33rd spot behind Edinburgh’s 32nd.

London, New York and Hong Kong remained at the top of the league, although London only narrowly clung to the premier spot, with “no significant difference” now between the three, the report’s authors said.

Researchers for the Global Financial Centres Index said that the capital cities of the weaker euro economies were “clearly suffering”, with Madrid down 11 places and Dublin down ten, while economies in the far East and the Nordic countries grew in stature.

Edinburgh has slipped dramatically from the initial GFCI report in March 2007 when it was ranked 15th in the world. Although its most recent rating of 632 was higher than its previous score of 600, Edinburgh was edged out of the top 30 by the increasing strengths of Osaka, Stockholm and Wellington.

Glasgow made its first appearance on the rankings in March 2008 at 22.

Owen Kelly, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, said: “The large jump a few years ago in the ratings for Asian centres like Shenzhen and Shanghai is now entrenched, reflecting the shift eastwards of prosperity and influence.

“For Scotland, the scores have remained steady since the index was created although, like all European financial centres, we face increasing competition in the rankings from Asia and other emerging markets.

“The welcome rise for Glasgow probably reflects recent major investments by companies like Barclays and Tesco Bank.”