The Competitive Position of London as a Global Financial ... - Z/Yen

4.7 Government Responsiveness (7 of 14)
The level of support for financial services and Government responsiveness to the
concerns of the industry was ranked half way down the list in terms of importance as
a factor in an international financial centre’s competitiveness. In the 2003 study,
government responsiveness was also halfway down the list.
Chart 15 – The Importance of Government Responsiveness
Number of Respondents
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Unimportant Of Low
Importance
Moderately
Important
31
Important Very
Important
International Banking International Other UK Banking UK Other
Critically
Important
69% of respondents saw government responsiveness as Important or Very Important
but only 22% thought it was a critical factor. 34% of international respondents
ranked government responsiveness as critically important whilst only 16% of UK
respondents ranked it as critical.
London and New York were seen as having governments which were more
responsive than Paris and Frankfurt (84% and 87% respectively gave scores of
Good or Excellent compared with 65% for Frankfurt and 54% for Paris). Singapore
was also thought to have a responsive government. On the other hand, three of the
interviewees felt that the financial services industry in Tokyo was badly let down by
its government and that Tokyo’s standing as a financial centre had suffered as a
result.
Chart 16 – How the Centres Rank in Terms of Government Responsiveness
Average Score
25
20
15
10
5
0
14.5
14.9
12.3
12.9
London New York City Paris Frankfurt