<P> In Asia, Tokyo emerged as a major financial centre in the 1980s as the Japanese economy became one of the largest in the world . Hong Kong and Singapore developed soon after leveraging their links with London and Britain . In the 21st century, other centres have grown including Sydney, Seoul and Shanghai . Dubai has become a centre for finance in the Middle East, including for Islamic finance . </P> <P> Prior to the 1960s, there is little data available to rank financial centres . In recent years many rankings have been developed and published . Two of the most relevant are the Global Financial Centres Index and the International Financial Centres Development Index . </P> <P> The Global Financial Centres Index is compiled semi-annually by the London - based British think - tank Z / Yen in conjunction with the Shenzen - based think - tank China Development Institute . London has been the top - ranked centre from the index's inception in 2007, except from March 2014 to September 2015, when New York City led . </P> <P> As of March 2017, the top ten global financial centres are: </P>

Is london or new york the financial capital of the world