Qatar-funded center ranks Tel Aviv as 27th global financial center

Tel Aviv's market was noted to be be both broad and deep, but on a local level.

By NIV ELIS
Tours Azrieli à Tel-Aviv (photo credit: LILACH DANIEL,PIKIWIKI)
Tours Azrieli à Tel-Aviv
(photo credit: LILACH DANIEL,PIKIWIKI)
Tel Aviv is the world’s 27th-best global financial center, beating out Beijing, Munich, Paris and Amsterdam, according to the 2015 Global Financial Centers Index, which is sponsored by the Qatar Financial Center.
The biannual ranking, produced by the Z/Yen Group, looks at factors such as business environment, financial- sector development, infrastructure, human capital and reputational and other general factors. It also incorporates survey data.
The top five on the list were New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. At No. 14, Riyadh beet out Tel Aviv for the top Middle Eastern financial center, followed by Doha at No. 20, Dubai at No. 23 and Abu Dhabi at No. 26.
Tel Aviv’s rank jumped nine places from the last survey, and its overall score improved 20 points to 684 (New York, for comparison, received 785).
The report identified three dimensions of competitiveness: connectivity (“the extent to which a center is well known around the world and how much nonresident professionals believe it is connected to other financial centers”); specialty (“the depth within a financial center of the following industry sectors”); and diversity (the “breadth” of the financial- industry sectors).
Tel Aviv’s market was noted to be both broad and deep, but on a local level (as was San Francisco).
“Israel’s high-quality human capital, which has been at the center of the development of the technology sector over the past 20 years, is now transforming the financial sector into a world-class industry that can compete globally,” said Eran Peleg, chief investment officer at Clarity Capital, a Tel Aviv-based investment firm.
Despite Israel’s size, it has the potential to become a leading financial center, he said.
“There is more to be done here, and we definitely encourage the new government to focus on the development and strengthening of Israel as a global financial center as a key objective for its upcoming term,” Peleg said.