On the 22nd Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI22) that was released this month, Shanghai gains seven places and is in the top ten of the world’s most important financial centers for the first time.

The top three places are occupied by London (1st), New York (2nd) and Hong Kong (3rd).

On the GFCI22, Shanghai scores an overall rating of 711 and makes it on the 6th place. It performs particularly well in the areas of Business Environment, Human Capital, Infrastructure and Financial Sector Development (all ranked 5th).

Overall, Shanghai has done a good job in its efforts to become an international financial center, especially for the improvement of its financial infrastructure and regulatory environment, according to Mark Yeandle, lead author of the GFCI22. 

The GFCI was first released in March 2007. Since then, Z/Yen, in close collaboration with the China Development Institute (CDI), continuously updates the index every March and September. The GFCI provides evaluations of competitiveness and rankings for the major financial centers around the world. 

The instrumental factors used in the GFCI model are grouped into five broad factors of competitiveness: Business Environment, Human Capital, Infrastructure, Financial Sector Development and Reputation.