The think tank Z/Yen, based in the City of London, has published the first Global Financial Centres Index for the year 2012. The list is published every 6 months and includes onshore as well as offshore financial centres.

According to the Z/Yen instrumental factors to determine the place of the financial centre in the list are people (as the availability of qualified professionals), business environment, infrastructure, market access and general competitiveness. The assessment is based on the data gathered from external indices and responses to an online questionnaire from industry professionals.

Jersey has managed to enter into the top 25. The island outperformed such cities as Amsterdam and Beijing.

Gathered data also shows that such prominent European financial centres as Zurich, Geneva and Luxembourg, also defined by some of the pundits as offshore, have risen in the list.

London – the taker of top position has remained the same since the last calculation of the index.

Jersey also was the only offshore centre that got included into the sectors top ten lists. The jurisdiction took the eighth position in the wealth management sector, leaving behind Tokyo and Vancouver.

Among the centres expected to become more significant in the future, the report has named Moscow and Singapore.

According to the same Index, the top ten list of offshore centres is as follows:
1. Jersey;
2. Guernsey;
3. Cayman Islands;
4. Hamilton;
5. Isle of Man;
6. BVI;
7. Monaco;
8. Gibraltar;
9. Mauritius;
10. Malta.

Sources:
This is Jersey: Jersey retains prominence in the offshore finance world (26th March 2012);
Z/Yen official website;
Longfinance.net;
The Global Financial Centres Index 11 (March 2012).