The 20 Top Cities for Global Finance

If you’re an observer of global finance, you know the financial world is becoming ever more competitive.  Among the many competitive forces is geography.  Finance firms move and shift employment for a number of reasons, including incentives, competitive wages, startup culture, and lots of other factors. With this as the background, which are the 20 top cities for global finance?

Here’s a geographic view of Z/Yen’s Global Financial Cities Index top 20.  Can you guess which are in the top 5?

The Top 20 Cities

In 20th place is DOHA, Qatar.  The financial hub is the second most important financial headquarter city in the Middle East, according to Z/Yen’s accounting.

Number 19 is Frankfurt, Germany.  Often thought of as the headquarters of financial Europe, a low-scoring Frankfurt slipped from the prior year, even with the newly developed, massive European Central Bank headquarters.

Montreal, Canada, coming in at number 19, is the third highest ranking Canadian city.

In 17th place is Luxembourg, the tiny haven for individuals searching some financial privacy.

Coming in at number 16 is Shanghai, China.  The financial capital of mainland China came in a disappointing 16th place, largely due to western financial leaders’ desire to see regulatory and political regime changes.

In 15th, 14th, and 13th places respectively are Vancouver, Canada, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the most important financial hub in the Middle East, and Geneva, Switzerland, a city largely dependent on international investors searching out financial privacy and commodity traders.

Next is Washington, D.C. at number 12. The political capital of the United States is probably disappointing to many, given that government shouldn’t be a reason for financiers to set up shop or pay attention.  Welcome to a new era of finance.

In 11th place is Toronto, Canada, the top Canadian city on the list, followed by Boston, Massachusetts at number 10.  The headquarters of some very large mutual funds and private equity firms, Boston continues to be a destination for financial firms.

Ninth place is held by Chicago, Illinois.   The home of the Chicago Board of Options and commodity trading changed little from the prior year.

San Francisco, California, the only California city on the list, earns its spot at number 8 on the list solely because of an incredibly hot venture capital connection with Silicon Valley’s technology startups.

Coming in at 7th place is Seoul, South Korea.  The capitalist country of the Koreas draws lots of international capital from the west.

Sixth place is held by Zurich, Switzerland, with Tokyo, Japan, as number 5, the sole city in the world’s third largest economy when measured by geopolitical boundaries.

Singapore is number 4.  Singapore ranks high because of a top ranking in its business climate conditions.

In 3rd place is Hong Kong.  Hong Kong is often the first place where western money lands when looking for a home in China.

Second place goes to London, England.  The European financial capital continues to make its case as being the capital of the global financial world.

Lastly, in 1st place is New York, New York.

Some of these rankings may come as a surprise, but the top two, New York and London, are likely not. For those looking for employment in the financial sector, keeping these geographic hot spots in mind could come in helpful for the job search!