Moscow climbed five places in the ranking of global financial centers
Moscow has risen from 62 to 57 place in the Global Financial Centers Index by the analytical company Z/Yen. In the ranking, the Russian capital is located between Helsinki and the British Virgin Islands. In two years, the city managed to improve its position immediately by 31 positions (from 88th to 57th).
“In the current ranking edition, the Russian capital has bypassed a range of cities such as Warsaw, Bangkok, Oslo and Mumbai. For the first time the city has become a leader within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, to which the authors of the ranking allocate Moscow. Overall, the ranking accesses performance of 114 cities of the world, its list is topped by New York, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore,” - stressed Maxim Ivanov, Director General of the Moscow Analytical Center.
During the pandemic, Moscow has already risen twice in the ranking of financial centers. With an average decrease of cities’ scores by 3.5 points, in the current edition Moscow has grown by 15 points in terms of both indicators and expert assessment. In this context, it is important to note that the scores of 9 out of 10 leaders have been declined. Specifically, positions of London and Tokyo fell by more than 10 points.
Z/Yen experts noted that the decline in positions among the leaders may related to the role of central banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors also pointed out that an increase of the overall score of Frankfurt by 12 points and a drop of London by 23 points may be the result of the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Moscow appeared to be accessed by foreign experts more often, the total number of assessments increased by 182 filled in questionnaires (+35%) and reached 708 questionnaires. Experts began to assess Moscow more positively: compared to the previous edition, their assessment of the Russian capital increased by 5 points.
Moscow is most frequently assessed by experts from Asia (68% of questionnaires), Western Europe (12%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (12%). In September 2020, 107 new experts evaluated Moscow. Moscow’s closest neighbors in the ranking are Vienna (54 place), Doha (55), Helsinki (56), followed by the British Virgin Islands (58), Bangkok (59) and Monaco (60).
Z/Yen is a commercial think-tank providing services in the field of financial consulting and publishing the Global Financial Centers Index every six months since 2007. The Index is based both on the results of statistical data and the results of a survey of qualified respondents. As for instrumental indicators, there are 143 of them, divided into five groups: Business Environment, Human Capital, Infrastructure Financial Sector Development, Reputational & General. The list of cities considered by Z/Yen experts is not fixed, a city is added into the ranking is case it receives more than 150 points from external respondents within the last two years. Moscow has been listed in the Global Financial Centers Index since its inception.
