Global Financial Centres Index

[digitalcabana]

Toronto rises to number 11 in the ranks of world financial centres
Michael McKiernan
Financial Post
March 06, 2009

Toronto's stock is rising in the world of international finance. The city moved up one place to 11th in the latest Global Financial Centres Index report, published twice a year by the City of London. This time last year, the city was 15th and Carol Wilding, the president of the Toronto Board of Trade, expects the upward trend to continue in the next few years. "A top-10 ranking is within reach. The real question is how high within the top 10 can we go," she said. The index uses surveys of market regulators, collected since 2006, to produce a rating for each of the 62 centres assessed. To breach the top 10, Toronto, with 615 points, must catch Dublin or Boston, tied for eighth with only three points more. London tops the list with 781 points more than New York, "the only two truly global centres," according to the report.

Report: http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/8D37DAE2-5937-4FC5-A004-C2FC4BED7742/0/BC_RS_GFCI5.pdf

 

[Hank]

Wow...we leapt over both Guernsey AND Jersey? That's quite the coup.

 

[BobBob]

That's neat, #11 in the world is a pretty big deal.

 

[jn_12]

Well first of all we didn't leap over Guernsey or Jersey. We were already ahead of them. Also, I wouldn't scoff at those two places because they're essentially the UK's equivalent of the Cayman Islands.

Essentially what this report showed is that everywhere in the world the economy is going south, with not one city equaling or improving their score from the last ranking. We're part of a group of cities whose scores didn't decrease significantly. Really, we improved in the ranking because Tokyo fell 8 spots and Sydney fell 6 spots, with decreases in score that were 3 and 2 times larger than ours respectively.

I think what's really interesting is Dublin being ranked 10. The whole Celtic Tiger effect is really vaulting that city into another realm. I wonder if Toronto has that next gear to vault it into a much higher position? We're only 3 points back of Boston who is in 9th, so perhaps in 6 months we'll be one of the top ten.


Just glanced through everything... Looks like our best result in some of the sub-indexes was a 3rd place finish in terms of reputation, and the difference between us and first was negligible.

 

[Hank]

Also, I wouldn't scoff at those two places because they're essentially the UK's equivalent of the Cayman Islands.

Although I was mostly making a joke, Jersey and Guernsey (or the Caymans, or Barbados, or the British Virgin Islands...) aren't really the kinds of 'global financial centres' I think that we should be trying to emulate, so being ahead of (or behind) them is really neither here nor there.

That being said, I think it's great that Toronto does so well on the list when compared to the 'real' financial centres of the world.

 

[UrbanAffair]

I don't know how london is ahead of NYC. Seems skewed, perhaps as the results are from the city of London. Just seems odd, as NYC has a larger Stock market, and more global companies operating there.

Bizarre to me, but then again Im no expert on this stuff...

 

[adma]

Although I was mostly making a joke, Jersey and Guernsey (or the Caymans, or Barbados, or the British Virgin Islands...) aren't really the kinds of 'global financial centres' I think that we should be trying to emulate, so being ahead of (or behind) them is really neither here nor there.

Which is another way of saying, don't have a cow, man. (Hey! A funny! Jersey! Guernsey! Cow!)

 

[SunriseChampion]

I'll wager we'll be up near number 7 when the next report is published.

One thing I think is seriously hindering us though, in cracking the top ten, is lack of infrastructure (especially mass transit).

..but, it's looking good....though, I have half a mind to see such reports as little more than some seriously-winded dick-wagging competitions.

 

[lead82]

actually, I believe London is #1 because it has more international businesses listed on their stock indices than NYC. It may be bigger in value and have more listed, but most of those companies listed on the NYC indices are based in USA.

 

[urbanfan89]

Ireland is essentially bankrupt, so we should get past Dublin next year.

The Swiss banks are, believe it or not, near death. Imagine that!

Bay Street has quite a good future.

 

[jaycola]

Outside of Canada, federal governments treat their cities as resources and national treasures.
In Canada our federal government treats Toronto, more than any other city, with contempt and disdain.
The fact that only 459 out of the 1,455 surveyed assessed Toronto in their responses speaks volumns about the lack of international reputation.
Follow this link to the Government of Canada Website "Invest in Canada". http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/default.aspx
Barely a mention of Toronto as an economic centre anywhere on the site.
Just this one blurb http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/explore-our-regions/ontario/toronto.aspx which still lists the CN Tower as the tallest building in the world.

Maybe it's time for the Federal Government to promote Toronto as the financial and economic capital of Canada.

 

[AKS]

Outside of Canada, federal governments treat their cities as resources and national treasures.
In Canada our, federal government treats Toronto, more than any other city, with contempt and disdain.
The fact that nly 459 out of the 1,455 surveyed assessed Toronto in their responses speaks volumns about the lack of international reputation.
Follow this link to the Government of Canada Website "Invest in Canada". http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/default.aspx
Barely a mention of Toronto as an economic centre anywhere on the site.
Just this one blurb http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/explore-our-regions/ontario/toronto.aspx which still lists the CN Tower as the tallest building in the world.

Maybe it's time for the Federal Government to promote Toronto as the financial and economic capital of Canada.

Actually, unless they mention other cities. They aren't ignoring Toronto. It's political. If they mention specific cities, the other cities would get upset and complain. So to be fair to all cities, they generalize. The reason they have a one pager is because there are also one pagers for other cities. So there won't be as many or any complaints.

 

[Disparishun]

Interesting document. Some random observations:

- in Chart 6 on page 32 of the PDF, we see that Toronto was not among the Top 20 Centres Most Rated by Respondents Not Based There. So we ended up in 11th on the strength of good ratings from those who thought of Toronto, but relatively few bothered thinking of Toronto. This suggests we do need some wide-lens marketing.

- However, Table 21 on page 36 of the PDF seems to suggest that we already have pretty good narrow-lens marketing. The rating given to Toronto by survey respondents is much higher than the rating the GFCI folks gave it after running it through analysis -- so that Toronto has an intangible reputational oomph as a result, they say, of "consistent marketing".

- Industry Sub-indices: they break out respondents according to five major industry sectors. Toronto comes tenth of ten for Banking and Government & Regulatory. It did not place in the top ten for Asset Management, Insurance, or Professional Services. Asset Management and Professional Services seem in particular like sectors where Toronto could do a lot better -- it is not really a significant centre for either of these.

 

[urbanfan89]

Maybe it's time for the Federal Government to promote Toronto as the financial and economic capital of Canada.

Given that Toronto will always be treated as a cash cow and nothing else, the GTA municipalities should come together and start an "Invest in Toronto" agency with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, and so on. There are times when you have to take things into your own hands.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Given that Toronto will always be treated as a cash cow and nothing else, the GTA municipalities should come together and start an "Invest in Toronto" agency with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, and so on. There are times when you have to take things into your own hands.

If I'm not mistaken, this has been done.

In that article from Toronto Life from a month or two ago about Toronto's rising global prominence as a financial centre something like that was mentioned as being run by Janet Ecker.

I'm not sure if they have foreign offices though.