London Rising
Move over New York City. London is now the world's premiere city of commerce, according to MasterCard's Worldwide Centres of Commerce Program. The survey made use of various dimensions such as (a) quality of life, (b) ease of doing business, (c) volume of actual commercial activity and (d) flow of knowledge and information to rank the cities. Despite ridiculously overpriced rides down the tube and quite a few other downers, the survey ranked London number one due to the city's sophisticated financial connections and prominence in international trade. New York City, long known to be one of the world's alpha cities, is in second place due to regulatory issues.
Apart from London and New York, the cities of Tokyo, Chicago, Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt, Paris, Seoul and Los Angeles make up the rest of the Top 10 in that order.
Other cities of note which appear in the Top 50 list include San Francisco at #19 (fifth in the United States), Vancouver at #28 and Dubai at #37. Johannesburg makes an appearance at #47 - the only city from the African continent to make it in that list. Not surprisingly, Manila is nowhere to be found. Despite the density of the skyscrapers there, the city still has a very long way to go in reducing red tape and in financial importance. On the other hand, Shanghai is at #32, Bangkok at #36 and Kuala Lumpur at #38.
The full list can be viewed here.
