Dublin’s ranking as a financial centre continues to plummet

Dublin has slid to 70th place in a ranking of 83 global financial centres,behind smaller centres like Guernsey (67), Cayman Islands (54) and Gibraltar (53), and far behind Luxembourg (15th), which alongside Dublin is Europe’s top hub for investment funds. In 2009 Dublin ranked in 10th place.

According to the 16th bi-annual Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) prepared by research group Z/Yen, out of the 23 western European centres polled, Dublin places fourth last, ahead of Madrid, Helsinki, Lisbon and Reykjavik.The top ten western European centres all saw a decline in their ratings. Leading centres in the region all fell in the ratings, with Zurich, Geneva, Luxembourg and Frankfurt joining London in losing ground.

Globally, New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore remain the top four financial centres, with New York just one point ahead of London. Uncertainty over the UK’s position in Europe, regulatory creep and the UK appearing to be less welcoming to foreigners were all cited as being contributing factors.

Leading centres in eastern Europe and central Asia saw ratings improve. Istanbul, Almaty and Prague all saw their ratings (and ranks) improve although Moscow continues to languish with another large drop in the ratings and a decline to 80th place in the GFCI.

Middle East centres continue to rise in the index, with Dubai up 12 to 17th, but offshore centres continued to struggle with reputation and regulation.