Dubai tumbles in world finance index

Dubai’s recent debt crisis appears to have taken its toll on the emirate’s reputation, with the city sliding down the latest rankings of global financial centres.

The emirate is the Gulf’s biggest loser on a list of the world’s up-and-coming cities for business, according to data from the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), a ranking of 75 centres compiled by London-based think tank and research house Z/Yen.

The project compares business community sentiment and hard data to determine which cities are the most competitive, based on figures from the last six months.

Dubai has dropped four places to the No.28 spot, falling behind cities such as Munich, Guernsey, Sydney and Seoul. The emirate’s rating slid 11 points to 607 in the six months since the last rankings in March.

More significantly, Dubai is no longer seen as a rising star in the financial community, eclipsed by Asia’s up-and-coming financial hubs, the report noted.

“In past editions… Dubai has been repeatedly mentioned as a centre both likely to become more significant and where new offices will be opened.

Dubai now features in neither category, probably as a result of its recent, widely reported, financial difficulties,” analysts noted.
 
Neighbouring Gulf state Bahrain fell one place to No.42, with a ranking of 578 points.

Qatar, however, climbed two places to the No.34 spot to pass Bahrain.

The tiny emirate was the only Gulf centre to improve its ranking. Riyadh, the lowest-placed Gulf centre, made its debut entry at No.69.

Though London and New York topped the index, the list is a reflection of Asia’s rising fortunes.

Hong Kong, in third place, is now just ten points shy of New York’s listing with a rating of 760, solidifying its reputation as a global financial centre.

"London and New York have long been considered the two top global financial centres. The top Asian centres have been catching up for a while, but financial services professionals around the globe have been consistent in saying that Hong Kong now joins the top two,” said Professor Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of the Z/Yen Group.

Singapore is just 32 points behind in fourth place, while Shanghai has soared 25 places – the most of all the Asian cities surveyed - to secure a top ten spot.

Further east, Seoul has jumped four places to move into the top 25 for the first time.

Asia also dominated the rankings of cities expected to become more significant, and likely to gain new offices.

The top six spots in both lists were taken up by Asian centres, with Shenzhen, Shanghai and Singapore taking the top three rankings.  

GFCI          Rank
London      1
New York   2
Hong Kong 3
Singapore   4
Tokyo        5
Shanghai    6
Chicago      7
Zurich        8
Geneva      9
Sydney      10