The Asian city state of Singapore attracted more foreign investment in its financial sector than any other IFC in the world over the past year. Geneva, Edinburgh and Glasgow were notable risers in the ranking, while troubled Madrid lost significant ground.
Singapore has attracted the largest levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) in its financial sector over the past year, with just under $1.5bn spent on 49 projects – a capital investment not as high as the previous year but that still secured the Asian financial centre the global lead in this ranking. Of the 20 largest individual projects worldwide, six came out of Singapore, including the biggest deal of the year. This was HSBC’s $788m investment to expand its Singaporean operations and workforce by about 1000 people.
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Interestingly, the second largest investment was in Geneva – which occupies eighth place in the ranking, up from 39th last year – where JPMorgan spent $221m to increase its wealth management operations in the Swiss centre, as the bank planned to hire 400 new employees in its wealth management, commodities trading and industry financing divisions. This will bring total staff of JPMorgan’s private banking unit in Geneva to 1000 by the end of 2012.
The ranking’s second place is taken by Dubai, which has improved its position from fifth place last year. The Middle Eastern financial centre has attracted a total of $722m in its financial services sector, which included Standard Chartered’s $140m investment in new offices, from which the bank plans to serve other jurisdictions in the region.
Another Asian centre, Hong Kong, is in third place while the leading European and North American jurisdictions are found in fourth, fifth and sixth positions, held by London, Dublin and New York, respectively. The UK and US centres display among the highest number of projects but the total capital investment, for New York in particular, is significantly lower than the top three jurisdictions of this list.
BRIC rise
Of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, China’s top centre is Shanghai, in seventh place with just under $300m of FDI in its financial sector, while Beijing sits in 12th position, with investment projects totalling $107m. Brazil’s São Paulo is in 14th position, with just under $107m of investment, while Russia’s Moscow and St Petersburg are in 20th and 40th place, respectively. Mumbai in India slipped to 27th place, from 15th last year, and received about $53m worth of FDI projects.
Beside Geneva, the biggest jump in the rankings was by Edinburgh, which moved from 33rd place last year to 10th place, and Glasgow, up from 56th place last year to 19th in this year’s ranking. Madrid was the centre to lose the most ground, down to 23rd place from ninth in 2010.
