Divergence & Change: Global FinTech Hub Report 2023

On November 11, the Global FinTech Hub Report 2023 was released during ZIBS Beijing Forum & The Annual Conference of the Global FinTech Hub Network of the Financial Street Forum 2023. In the 2023 ZIBS Academic Forum held on January 13, Lecturer LUO Dan from Alibaba Business School, Hangzhou Normal University introduced the key results of the report.

On November 11, 2023, Beijing Frontier Institute of Regulation and Supervision Technology (FIRST), Academy of Internet Finance (AIF), Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS), and Zhejiang Association of FinTech (ZAFT) jointly released the Global FinTech Hub Report 2023 (referred to as "the Report") at the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2023. Based on the FinTech Development Index first released by the Sinai Lab of AIF in 2017, the Report features the top 50 selected out of over 80 cities (cities mentioned in this report refer to cities or regions) worldwide whose FinTech industries, including their consumers and ecosystem, are investigated, and presents both overall and metric-specific rankings that offer insights into the changing landscape of global FinTech hubs.

The theme of this Report is "Divergence in The Changing World". Specifically, "The Changing World" refers to the fact that global FinTech industries are confronted by tough challenges and that there emerges a noticeable "asymmetry" in the development of FinTech among cities, compounded by the world's political and economic instability. "Divergence" means that in this complex environment, cities are increasingly adapting their strategies to local conditions, pursuing breakthroughs, and accumulating experience through three major FinTech development models which focus on the industry (technology), consumers (market), and ecosystem (rules) respectively. These cities are creating inspiring stories of achieving success against all odds.

01 Overall Ranking: The Full Picture

Global Landscape:

Asymmetric Development

According to the overall ranking list — 2023 Global Top 50 FinTech Hubs, the top 10 global FinTech hubs are Beijing, San Francisco (Silicon Valley), New York, London, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Singapore, Chicago, and Sydney (cities mentioned in this report refer to cities or regions, the same below). Notably, Sydney has moved up by two places, for its newly listed FinTech companies and unlisted ones that have raised over USD 30 million in funding, continuous improvements in digital infrastructure and impressive regulatory progress, surpassing Tokyo that ranked 10th last year and sharing the ninth spot with Chicago. The remaining 40 cities are led by Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, Guangzhou, and Mumbai.

In 2023, the global top 50 cities show a very obvious "asymmetry" in FinTech development. The top 10 cities are more capable of holding their positions. Beijing has topped the list for five consecutive years. Additionally, the top three cities (Beijing, San Francisco, and New York) have seen their positions unchanged for five years, while the top nine have stayed the same for three consecutive years. As a Chinese saying goes, it is easier to establish a position than to hold it. In the fiercely competitive global landscape, it is no small feat for these cities to sustain their development achievements.

On the contrary, the remaining 40 cities have experienced significant fluctuations in their rankings. 36 cities, or 90%, of them have moved up or down the list compared to 2022 when 72.5% of the cities saw a change in their rankings. Among the 15 cities that have experienced changes in their rankings, Toronto, Sao Paulo, and Brussels are the leaders in making progress. Toronto and Brussels, in particular, have demonstrated remarkable efforts. Toronto has climbed six places in the overall ranking, and also made significant improvements in the industry, experience, and ecosystem dimensions, up three, four, and three places respectively. Similarly, Brussels has risen four places in the overall ranking and shown improvements of four, three, and two places respectively by the three specific metrics. Among the 21 cities that have experienced a decline in their rankings, Moscow, Seoul, Cape Town, and Warsaw are notable examples. Moscow, in particular, has faced consecutive setbacks in the overall ranking for two years due to the ongoing impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This year, Moscow has witnessed a significant drop of seven places (compared to a three-place drop in 2022). Both the 90% proportion of cities whose rankings have changed and the much larger number of cities that have moved down the list give full expression to the intensifying competition among the remaining 40 cities.