Hong Kong SAR has overtaken the United States and the United Kingdom to top the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) fourth annual Financial Development Report.

As the first Asian financial centre to achieve this rank, Hong Kong’s position was bolstered by strong scores in non-banking financial services such as IPO activity and insurance.

Although the US fell one spot to second place, its overall score remains almost unchanged compared to last year. While financial stability continues to be a concern, the US was able to offset this weakness with strong financial intermediation results. Particular strengths in this area include highly developed foreign exchange and derivatives markets, as well as comparatively robust M&A and securitization activity.

The UK declined in both score and rank, placing third overall. The greatest contributing factors to its decline are lower scores on securitization and IPO activity.

To get more information on the report watch a short video here.

Download a PDF of the report here.