Seoul's financial competitiveness ranking rises to record 24th

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that
the city's financial competitiveness ranking among the world's 75 major cities
regularly assessed by a British consulting group rose for the third consecutive
time to an all-time high of 24th this fall.
In the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) compiled by Britain's "Z/Yen Group"
twice a year, Seoul's ranking climbed four notches from six months earlier to
24th place in September, city officials said.
Seoul posted a third consecutive rise in the biannual GFCI report after the
capital city sat in 28th place in March, up 18 notches from September of last
year, they said.
The GFCI is an index that measures the financial competitiveness of 75 major
cities around the world based on experts' survey and analysis reports and is
commissioned by the City of London Corp. and produced by the Z/Yen Group.
London ranked first in the September report, followed by New York.
Among Asian cities, China's emerging financial hub of Hong Kong took third place,
trailed by Singapore (fourth), Tokyo (fifth) and Shanghai (sixth), according to
the report.
By category, the GFCI ranked Seoul fourth worldwide in terms of the potential to
grow into a global financial hub. In addition, the South Korean capital was
picked sixth in terms of the outlook for hosting a branch of foreign financial
institutions over the next several years.
With the aim of making Seoul one of the top 10 financial hubs in the world, the
metropolitan government plans to complete the construction of the Seoul
International Financial Center earlier than scheduled by 2012 and implement a
variety of incentive measures for global financial institutions, city officials
said.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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