Shanghai ranked 16th in a list of 87 global financial hubs, with Shenzhen at 22nd and Beijing at 26th place, a survey showed yesterday.
London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo were ranked in the top five, according to the Global Financial Centers Index report.
Shanghai stayed sixth in Asia rankings, a repeat of its position in the prior survey released in March. However, the city's financial infrastructure gained higher points.
The index is compiled by the London-based Z/Yen Group and the non-official think tank China Development Institute. The index began the ranking in 2007, featuring five sub-indexes of human resources, business environment, entry barrier, infrastructure and general features.
Shanghai ranked fifth in 2011, but has since been surpassed by cities such as Los Angeles and Montreal, due to fast development of financial technology firms and better plans to deal with post-economic crisis problems.
"I believe Shanghai has real capacity," said Mark Yeandle, associate director of the Z/Yen Group. "If we give it some true light in years to come, Shanghai might rank back among the top-10 centers though that's with the expectation of how long it will take for the yuan to become truly internationalized."
Shanghai aims to become an influential global financial center by 2020, "in accordance with China's economic strength and a broader use of the yuan," Zhen Yang, director-general of the Shanghai Financial Service Office, said in a speech yesterday.
The country's currency will be included in the International Monetary Fund's currency basket from October 1, holding a 10.9 percent weighting in the Special Drawing Rights administered by the fund, as China looks for a bigger say in the global market.
