Dublin’s financial pull outstrips Geneva

DUBLIN has pushed ahead of Washington DC, Barcelona and Geneva in a list of the world’s most influential financial centres.

Ireland’s capital city retained its placing at 31st, with a score of 51.77, in a Mastercard survey of 75 cities worldwide.

Despite coming under pressure recently for the decision of firms such as Shire and UBM to move their operations out of London to Dublin, Britain’s capital topped the list with a score of 79.17.

Dublin scored highly for its legal and political framework, economic stability and liveability.

Its overall score was brought down by low values being placed on its financial flow, its attraction as a business centre and its ability for knowledge creation and information flow.

Dublin came in sixth spot overall when it came to ease of doing business — which looked at the process from starting a business to securing contracts.

After London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Chicago took the other top spots.

The report said

London’s secure economy, vibrant financial markets and a legal and political framework that supports international trade, buoyed the city’s ranking.

The report shows “how long-term economic heavyweights, like London, are holding their own in the face of fast-emerging cities, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe,” said John Bushby, Mastercard’s general manager for northern Europe.

Shanghai jumped eight places to rank among the top 25 centres of commerce, joining seven other Asian cities, including Hong Kong, Taipei and Osaka.

In Europe, Paris overtook Frankfurt to rank seventh, while in the United States, New York and Chicago were the only two North American cities featuring in the index’s top ten.

Meanwhile, in a separate survey Dublin jumped two places to 27th spot in a list of the Mercer quality of living survey.

It came in ahead of cities like San Francisco, Singapore, London and Tokyo. Zurich topped the list, followed by Vienna, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland.