HS Seoul’s financial competitiveness up

By Kim Jae-won

Seoul has joined the league of the world’s top 25 cities in the area of global financial competitiveness, up four notches from six months ago, as the capital city of the nation ranked fourth in terms of its potential to become a financial hub, a British consulting firm said Monday.

However, the city is still far behind its rivals — Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai, as all of them are listed in the top 10.

In its latest global financial centers index (GFCI) report, released every six months since March 2007, Z/Yen Group, a London-based international consulting company, said that Seoul placed 24th with 621 points among 75 major cities in the world.

“Asian centers continue to exhibit good growth every six months since March 2007 - Seoul gaining four places and moving into the top 25 for the first time,” the group said in the report.

London topped the index with 772 points, edging New York by two. Four Asian cities — Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai — were listed from third to sixth in the GFCI in that order, showing the expanding financial power in the region.

Seoul was expected to grow more in the near future being mentioned as one of the top five centers, that would become more important in the foreseeable future.

“When questioned about which financial centers are likely to become more significant in the next few years, the top five centers mentioned are all Asian — Shenzhen, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul and Beijing,” the report said.

Seoul also attracted much interest from other global financial services companies as they plan to establish subsidiaries or branches in the city. Seoul ranked fourth in the category of the “centers where new offices will be opened,” just behind Shenzhen, Shanghai and Singapore.

Local analysts said Seoul needs to focus on improving social infrastructure to attract more international financial services companies.

“It is important to provide the best living circumstances for foreigners to become a financial hub,” Lee Hyuk-jae, an analyst from IBK Investment & Securities, said. “They still experience a lot of inconveniences in Seoul in regard to social services, especially in education and medical services.”

Seoul said that despite improvement in the ranking, it still lags behind other advanced financial cities, and vowed to join the top 10 by implementing various measures.

“We will do our best to increase the financial competitiveness of Seoul,” Choi Hyang-do, director from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said in a press release. “We will ease financial regulations, cut tax, and improve living circumstances in cooperation with the central government.”

서울, 금융경쟁력 4계단 올라

서울이 글로벌 금융 경쟁력 순위 집계에서 처음으로 25위권에 진입했다. 서울은 금융허브로서의 잠재력 부문에서 4위에 오르는 등 6개월 전 집계보다 종합 부문 순위에서 4단계 올랐다고 한 영국 컨설팅 회사가 20일 밝혔다.

그러나 서울은 아시아 지역 다른 주요 도시에 비해 훨씬 성적이 못 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 서울의 주요한 경쟁 도시인 홍콩, 싱가포르, 도쿄, 상하이 등은 모두 10권에 이름을 올렸다.

런던에 본사를 둔 컨설팅회사 Z/Yen 그룹은 최근 실시한 글로벌금융센터지수(GFCI) 조사에서 서울이 총점 621점을 얻어 전세계 75개 주요 도시 가운데 24위를 기록했다고 말했다.

“아시아 도시들이 계속 좋은 성장세를 보이고 있다. 특히 서울은 4계단 순위를 올리며 처음으로 25위권에 진입했다,”고 Z/Yen 그룹이 보고서에서 밝혔다.

런던이 772점을 획득해 뉴욕을 2점차로 따돌리고 1위를 차지했다. 홍콩, 싱가포르, 도쿄, 상하이 등 주요 아시아 도시들이 3위부터 6위까지 차례로 차지하며 이 지역에서의 증가하는 금융파워를 보여줬다.

서울은 성장가능성이 큰 도시 부문에서 5위권에 이름을 올리면서, 앞으로 더욱 경쟁력이 증가할 것으로 예상됐다.

“향후 수년간 더욱 중요해질 도시를 묻는 질문에 선전, 상하이, 싱가포르, 서울, 베이징 등 아시아 다섯 개 지역이 꼽혔다”고 이 보고서는 밝혔다.