London tagged world’s top financial city

London earned the tag of the being world’s top financial city even as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.

London beat New York once again to climb to the top spot in the biannual Global Financial Centres Index and increased its lead over its European counterparts.

Following London and New York were Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo in the third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.

The highest-ranked city in Schengen Area on the index was Zurich in 16th position, with Frankfurt Luxembourg and Paris in 20th, 21st and 24th places, respectively.

Published by k Z/Yen Group, a commercial think-tank, the report saw London being way ahead of cities such as Paris and Frankfurt, which were supposed to be threatening the UK’s capital status as the world’s financial capital.

A Montreal-based asset manager was quoted by Mail Online as saying in the report that it is tough for every city to be a London or a New York. The manager added by saying that it would be better for many smaller cities to start specialising in one sector.

Gerard Lyons, Boris Johnson’s former advisor, said that London’s competition was across the globe. He said it was feared when Britain did not join the euro that it would be upstaged by Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt as Europe’s leading financial centre.

The report’s rankings were evaluated on over 100 factors determined independently by groups such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). Included in the factors are aspects including taxes, skills, political stability, regulation, and availability of capital, quality of life, the rule of law, reputation and cultural diversity.

London scored 794 out of 1,000 points. Its lead over Frankfurt widened to 86 points from 79 points and over Paris to 107 points from 100 points.

John Longworth, the British Chambers of Commerce’s former head, said London was the No. 1 financial centre of the world. Posing real competition to London were New York and some Asian cities.