Wall Street is barely hanging onto its title as the global financial capital.
A new ranking of the world’s top finance centers placed New York City only slightly ahead of London, suggesting the British hub could soon retake the crown.
The cities’ rankings on the latest Global Financial Centers Index, released Friday, were unchanged from the March edition of the twice-a-year survey. But London’s score — based on a wide range of financial, social and economic metrics — jumped 24 points to 766, while New York’s only rose a single point to 770.
The gap has narrowed significantly since the last ranking, which had the Big Apple 27 points ahead of the UK capital. The list is compiled by Z/Yen Group, a London-based commercial think tank, in partnership with the China Development Institute.
Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong rounded out the top five on Friday’s ranking, followed by Singapore, Beijing, San Francisco, Shenzhen and Zurich.
The top 10 cities all saw their scores increase from the March survey even though the average rating of the 111 ranked cities fell by more than 41 points. That could be a sign of “increased confidence in leading centers during the COVID-19 pandemic,” researchers said.
“Uncertainty about trade, political stability, and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has injected more volatility into the index results,” Michael Mainelli, Z/Yen Group’s executive chairman, said in a statement. “New ways of working are challenging the concept of a traditional financial center.”
The ranking suggests London has made something of a comeback since New York booted it from the top spot in September 2018 amid uncertainty about the UK’s impending exit from the European Union. That was the first time since 2015 that New York had topped the list, according to the Financial Times.