BEN WESTCOTT BEN.WESTCOTT@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 30 September, 2015, 12:38pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 30 September, 2015, 1:04pm
Hong Kong now ranks third behind New Zealand and Singapore in terms of its financial market, according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Hong Kong no longer has the best financial sector in the world, losing its top ranking to New Zealand and Singapore, according to the latest report from the World Economic Forum.
Despite losing its crown in finance, Hong Kong has held its place as the seventh most competitive economy in the world for the third year in a row in the 2015-16 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report, released on Tuesday.
The city maintained its top ranking for highest quality infrastructure in the world, while seeing a strong improvement in higher education and training, surging from 22nd place to 13th.
In addition, the report’s ranking for ‘quality of education’ jumped 19 places to be ranked 29th overall.
Despite the good news, Hong Kong dropped from first to third place in financial market development, mostly driven by a significant tumble in trustworthiness and confidence, which fell five places.
New Zealand is now ranked the best financial sector worldwide, closely followed by Singapore in second place.
“[Hong Kong’s] performance – almost unchanged from last year – is remarkably consistent across the 12 pillars,” the report stated.
“Although slipping from top place, its financial sector remains very well developed, with a high level of sophistication, trustworthiness and stability, and relatively good availability of credit.
“The challenge for Hong Kong is to evolve from one of the world’s foremost financial hubs to an innovative powerhouse.”
The report singled out innovation as one of the city’s weakest areas, ranking only 27th in the world in the category.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1862665/hong-kong-loses-crown-worlds-best-financial-market-citys
