Asian financial centers raise their global rankings

Shanghai vaulted into the ranks of the world’s leading centres of commerce, becoming one of eight Asian cities among the top 25, while Mumbai, improved its tally by 3 notches, emerging as the 7th most preferred destination for investment in 2008, a study by MasterCard said.

Tokyo retained its spot as Asia’s top commercial centre — and number three globally — while Singapore overtook Hong Kong which ranks sixth globally to move into fourth spot overall, the MasterCard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index said.

“Asia’s dominance among the top 25 cities globally demonstrates the growing importance of Asian cities to a progressively urbanised global economy,” MasterCard said in a press release.

Other Asian cities in the top 25 global centres of commerce are: Seoul in ninth spot, Sydney in 12th, Osaka 19th, and Taipei at 22nd spot. New Delhi and Bangalore are the two other Indian cities that have been for the first time included in the index at 61st and 66th positions respectively. In addition to Shanghai, the Chinese cities are Beijing, at 57th spot globally, Shenzhen at 60th, Chengdu in 72nd spot and Chongqing at 73.

Regionally, Western Europe dominated with 10 of the top 25 cities, while Asia strengthened its reputation as an economic hub with seven of its cities in the top 25.

The index, developed by a panel of social scientists, rates cities on seven key dimensions including legal and political framework, economic stability and livability, MasterCard said.
http://www.2point6billion.com/2008/06/12/asian-financial-centers-raise-their-global-rankings/