Singapore attracted a total $1.06bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) to its financial services sector between April 2016 and March 2017, the highest amount among emerging market financial centres over that period, according to data from greenfield investment monitor fDi Intelligence. Mirroring the region’s economic progress, Asia dominates almost all other positions in the top 10 list, with the exception of Dubai and Mexico City, in fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The previous year ranking portrays a similar picture but, in that case, it was a Latin American hub to lead. Despite Singapore’s consistency – it attracted a nearly identical amount of financial services FDI as it did in the latest period – São Paulo was the subject of greater investor attention with a total of $1.4bn. Brazil’s other major financial centre, Rio de Janeiro, also featured in the ranking, in fourth place, with $851.1m. Dubai was the only Middle Eastern centre to appear in the list.
Middle Eastern centres are more noticeable in the outward FDI tables. While Asia produced the largest pool of outward financial services FDI, a bigger variety of emerging market hubs broke into those rankings, Middle Eastern centres in particular. Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai occupy sixth, seventh and ninth places, respectively, in the most recent ranking; while Abu Dhabi performed even better in the earlier table, ranking top for outward FDI between April 2015 and March 2016, with $1.37bn.
Centres from regions other than Asia that made it in that list are Buenos Aires in sixth place with $442.4m, Moscow in seventh with $329.4m, and Johannesburg in ninth place with $243.8m.
