Impact of Financial Centers
A common framework for understanding how financial centers create value, measuring their contribution and guiding action.
Financial centers are increasingly recognized as important engines of economic development, connecting capital, businesses, talent and expertise across markets. Their contribution extends well beyond their direct financial activity, encompassing employment and value creation, capital flows, innovation, talent, institutional development and the international attractiveness of their host economies.
The project, coordinated by Casablanca Finance City and developed with the support of SouthBridge and Afi, gives World Alliance members a common framework to assess this contribution: 59 key indicators across 24 thematic areas, and four broad archetypes of financial centers (Host Economy Catalysts, International Financial Gateways, Domestic Specialized Hubs and International Specialized Hubs). Rather than ranking centers against one another, it recognizes that they have different mandates, structures, markets and stages of development.
Across the members for which data are available, financial-center activity supports more than 4.2 million jobs and generates more than USD 750 billion in value added. Members contributed data, insights and feedback throughout the project.
The White Paper was presented at the Annual General Meeting in Busan in September 2026. The project is now being finalized.