The Global Financial Centres index 21 (2017)

[kwoldtimer]

Their methodology is set out at the end of the report.

[OutOfTowner]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

Still isn't accurate. These are some of the weakest tax havens out there, compared to some of the largest financial centers. Carlos Slim's net worth is greater than the entire Casablanca bourse, yet here we have this noname organization claiming otherwise.

Well I'm sure there are 25 other cheesy rankings sites out there. Pick one that conforms most closely to your rankings view and post it.

[lio45]

"Carlos Slim's House" could rank as Global Financial Center #30 then, depending on the metrics used. That would be interesting (and highlight the stupidity of the whole process)

[caltrane74]

Lio! Omg!

I was just gonna post how useless this list is. As all financial centers bow down to Omaha.

[kool maudit]

I love Montreal, Montreal is my home, I am a Montreal partisan... but how on earth is it a major financial centre?

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I love Montreal, Montreal is my home, I am a Montreal partisan... but how on earth is it a major financial centre?

It's one of the biggest fintech expertise cities in the world, plus it's stock exchange treats specific files through TMX. While it doesn't show for the common folk, it's still pretty big.

[mr.John]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I love Montreal, Montreal is my home, I am a Montreal partisan... but how on earth is it a major financial centre?

The caisse de depot et placement du quebec has assets of $280 billion dollars and it's HQ is in Montreal, that should count for something (or maybe not? )

[Martin Mtl]

It's just a list among many other lists. The fact that it's out there and that people all over the world will consult it (with or without taking it very seriously) makes it relevant somewhat. So the fact that Canadian cities are well listed is a plus, no matter what.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I love Montreal, Montreal is my home, I am a Montreal partisan... but how on earth is it a major financial centre?

Well, consider that the list is about its placement relative to others.

And as has been mentioned, once the very top-ranked cities take their shares of the financial market, the rest down the list are likely fighting it out for what are really scraps.

[kora]

Calgary falls under the "Unpredictable Centres" category (p.29) .... "These centres have the highest potential future movement." .... which could mean way up or way down.

Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver are "Dynamic Centres"

[bikegypsy]

What? Montreal is rating above Beijing, Mexico city, Bangkok, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Paris and the massive city of Seoul which is headquarters to countless world brands.... Really?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

What? Montreal is rating above Beijing, Mexico city, Bangkok, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Paris and the massive city of Seoul which is headquarters to countless world brands.... Really?

It's regarding a city's financial services industry NOT how big a city is or how many HQs it has.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It's regarding a city's financial services industry NOT how big a city is or how many HQs it has.

True. I'm amazed that Montreal outperforms these cities which are the main economic centers of their respective countries. I just never saw Montreal as a hub for finance.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

This sub-forum is a great example. Relative to our population, Canadians probably represent a higher percentage of this forum's traffic than any other country so much that we can sustain our own, very active sub-forum. Now, a higher percent of Canadians probably live and/or work in a skyscraper than Americans, and our cities have some exciting projects relative to their size, but are our cities and our projects that much more a part of our lives compared to, say, the average Australian? Or the average Singaporean? They have sub-forums, but they're positively moribund in comparison. Or what about countries where there are millions of English speakers, internet use is high among the middle class and development is on fire, like Mumbai? When it comes to skyscrapers under construction, our tallest isn't even the global top 250! Anyway, there's something about Canadians on the internet...

In fairness this is a Canadian website...

Originally Posted by OutOfTowner

This is like a list of The World's Biggest Armies. The top 5 or so are orders of magnitude more important than the rest. Whether you're 12th, 39th, 63rd, 87th.. doesn't really matter, you're pretty much in the same boat.

This is a very good point and why the numbers outside of the top 7 or 8 are so jumbled.

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

True. I'm amazed that Montreal outperforms these cities which are the main economic centers of their respective countries. I just never saw Montreal as a hub for finance.

This list doesn't mean it is, it's just a culmination of the opinions of people in the finance industry (and is heavily weighted to English speaking jurisdictions).

The market exchanges, banks and financial institutions in places like Seoul, Paris and Frankfurt are many times larger than what goes through Montreal or Vancouver or to a lesser extent even Toronto, which is why the individual rankings of these lists are so widely panned.

All you can really take out of this list is it's a good thing to be on it, but don't really get too concerned about the rankings.

[caltrane74]

I remember a time the financial market in Toronto was the world's 7th largest. That was a while ago and haven't checked the rankings since then. Might have been 10 or 20 years ago, I can't remember for sure.

[LeftCoaster]

Probably at the height of the resources super cycle. I doubt the TSX is that high anymore but I don't actually know.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Probably at the height of the resources super cycle. I doubt the TSX is that high anymore but I don't actually know.

FWIW, according to the World Federation of Exchanges (the industries self tracking association), TMX is 9th in mkt cap and 12th in trading volume (USD). It was 6th/7th for a long time through the 90's up to about 2010 due to a number of reasons including the resource boom. It's also likely to drop down a notch or two over the next 2 years as the Indian economy grows (it's two exchanges are ahead of TMX though they have yet to merge) and Frankfurt grows due to Brexit.

Still decent for the TMX and it is still second in shares listed due to the 1000's of mining/energy juniors on the Venture. It is still the world's goto exchange for miners.

[WhipperSnapper]

Interesting reasonings so far

List tells Chinese the best places to invest. Obviously, Canadian cities be would weighted on the high side.

China Development Institute is committed to
providing innovative and pragmatic reports for governments at
different levels in China and corporations at home and abroad.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by shreddog

... and Frankfurt grows due to Brexit.

Remains to be seen whether that'll be enough to pass Vancouver or not.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by ErickMontreal

A list without Moose Jaw (Manitoba), Matane, (QC) or St-Stephen (NB) is ludacris.

It's rigged, It's rigged #TheDonald

Moose Jaw isn't in Manitoba.

Otherwise, this list isn't based on how big or important a city is. It's very easy to see why such small places can have so much weight.