(Yicai) Sept. 17 -- Shanghai was listed as a top five global financial centers by UK think tank Z/Yen Group and the China Development Institute for the first time in four years, with all other Chinese mainland cities on the list also climbing.

Shanghai moved up one spot to fifth with a comprehensive score of 754 in the 40th Global Financial Centers Index released yesterday. The city last ranked in the top five in March 2022 after coming in fourth, while its best-ever performance was third in 2020.

New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore ranked first through fourth, unchanged from the previous edition. Tokyo climbed four spots to sixth, Seoul, Shenzhen, and Zurich each gained a position to rank seventh, eighth, and 10th, respectively, while Dubai dropped two places to ninth.

"Over 20 years the GFCI has watched the remorseless digitalization of finance alongside the relentless, and essential, financial pivot to Asia," said Michael Mainelli, chairman of London-based Z/Yen. "Six Asia/Pacific centers are in the top 10 in the 40th edition. Seven are in the top 10 in the GFCI FinTech ranking.

"The continued strength of Asian finance, and the strength of their technology and AI base is a challenge to traditional centers in a world where geopolitics plays havoc with financial center attractiveness, and AI upends the stability of financial IT stacks," Mainelli pointed out.

Most centers saw their ratings improve, with the average across all 117 centers up 0.8 percent, the report said. Eastern Europe and Central Asia saw the largest fall in average ratings at 1.1 percent, while the Asia-Pacific region posted the largest increase at 1.5 percent.

Twelve Chinese mainland cities made the latest GFCI, with their rankings and scores rising across the board. Beijing climbed six places to 16th, while Guangzhou and Qingdao gained two spots each to rank 28th and 31st, respectively, followed by Chengdu at 34th, Hangzhou at 59th, Dalian at 64th, Wuhan at 66th, Xi'an at 73rd, Tianjin at 79th, and Nanjing at 86th.

Since 2007, the GFCI has been published twice a year, evaluating and ranking global financial centers from five broad areas of competitiveness: Business Environment, Human Capital, Infrastructure, Financial Sector Development, and Reputation.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev