As competition from Asia intensified, New York came in second place on a new ranking of global financial centres.

London narrowly beat New York to land the top spot on the Global Financial Centres Index, produced by Z/Yen Group.

In North America, although the ratings of all centres increased, the rise of some Asian centres pushed down San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver and Calgary in the ranks. Sao Paulo held onto its spot as the top Latin American centre and moved up in both the ratings and rankings, along with Rio de Janeiro.

Behind London and New York, which were only eight points apart, the next four centres were all Asian. Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul came in third to sixth place respectively in the ranking of 84 financial centres, which was sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority.

Indeed, 12 of the top 15 Asia-Pacific centres saw a jump in their ratings, with the exception of Hong Kong and Singapore.

London's dominant position was attributed to higher assessments since the UK's general election in May. However, Z/Yen Group said it prefers to see London and New York as “complementary rather than purely competitive”. Meanwhile, Liechtenstein made a first-time appearance in the GFCI, claiming 60th place.