New York catches up with London to head City's global centres survey

LONDON: London is no longer the clear leader among global financial centres after New York rose from second place to level peg with the British capital as more companies list in the United States, the City of London Corporation's said on Thursday.

The City, which administers London's financial district, said in its annual survey that benchmarks on the performance of global financial centres gave London an overall competitiveness score of 60, up from 59 in 2022, but New York increased its score to 60.

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Singapore was third with 51, Frankfurt 46, Paris 43, and Tokyo 35.

The City said Britain continues to build on its long-standing strengths as the world's largest centre for international debt issuance, commercial (re)insurance, and foreign exchange trading, and the second largest asset management centre.

But the number of international company listings in London is falling, and few global firms are choosing to list there, the City said.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority flagged proposed changes on Wednesday to streamline listing rules.

Finance sector officials in Britain have called for faster reforms of financial rules to bolster the City's competitiveness after Brexit pitted London against EU centres such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.

New York overtook London in 2018 to become the top global financial centre in the separate Z/Yen survey.

The City is due in the third quarter to set out recommendations for a long-term blueprint to "kickstart" London's role as a post-Brexit global financial centre by 2030.

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"The UK remains one of the most open and global financial centres with better access to international markets than the US, France, or Japan. But our competitive advantage is at risk," said Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation.