London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong remain the four leading global financial centres, according to new research.

London is still the world's top financial centre, just ahead of New York, according to Z/Yen's latest Global Financial Centres Index.

Despite its dominant position, a number of respondents to Z/Yen's questionnaire said the uncertainty surrounding the possible exit of the UK from the EU was having a negative impact on London’s competitiveness.

After New York, the next three centres are all Asian – Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo respectively. Singapore overtook Hong Kong by two points. However, seven of the top ten Asia-Pacific centres dipped in their ratings, with Seoul and Sydney falling the furthest.

In Europe, the leading centres are London, Zurich, Geneva, Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Z/Yen highlighted that Rome, Madrid and Brussels – three centres closely associated with the eurozone crisis – have shown signs of recovery.

In North America, the picture was mixed. While New York and Washington DC (ranked seventh place globally) rose in their ratings, the three leading Canadian centres fell in the ratings after strong rises in the past year. Toronto remains the top Canadian centre with Montreal in second and Vancouver in third place. On the global ranking, San Francisco claimed eighth place, followed by Boston and Toronto respectively.

“Five of the top ten centres are now North American perhaps reflecting the surge in fintech and blockchains,” said Mark Yeandle, associate director at the Z/Yen Group and author of the GFCI.

GFCI drew its data from 24,495 financial centre assessments completed by 2,520 financial services professionals.