wef puts hong kong top of its financial index

Hong Kong moved up from fourth place last year in the index, which was conceived in 2008 and which looks at various elements of financial development, including the workings of banks and other financial services entities, capital markets, the business environment and transparency.

The US fell to second place, with a score unchanged from last year, while the UK dropped to third, with a decline in its overall score. 

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia leapt past the UAE and Bahrain to become the region’s top financial centre, in 23rd place, helped by its relative financial stability. It rose three places, while the UAE, which had been the region’s top-ranked country in 2010, fell four places to 25th, and Bahrain slid one place to 24th.

Kevin Steinberg, chief operating officer of the World Economic Forum USA, said Hong Kong’s ascent in the WEF ranking was "a major milestone, the first time in the report’s history that the United Kingdom or the US didn’t come out on top".

"While Western financial centres are understandably focused on short-term challenges, this report should serve as a wake-up call that their long-term leadership may be in jeopardy," he added.

The biggest mover in the top 10 was Norway, which leapt into tenth place from 15th last year; Switzerland and Singapore both fell by one place.

The greatest contributing factors to the UK’s slide were “lower scores on securitisation and IPO activity”, the WEF said, in a statement accompanying the release of its Financial Development Report.

Hong Kong’s strong showing was ascribed to its “strong scores in non-banking financial services, such as IPO activity and insurance”.

Among the WEF’s findings is that 90% of the 60 countries it surveyed still have not returned to their pre-crisis levels in terms of access to capital.

The WEF report may be read and downloaded at http://www.weforum.org/FDR2011.