Hong Kong to become world's largest financial center by 2017

Jobs boom to fuel rise as World Number One.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). said other reasons for Hong Kong’s future dominance are a less burdensome regulatory environment and continuous investor interest. ICAEW also said the internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi or yuan will boost finance growth and jobs in Hong Kong.

An ICAEW report showed there were 175,000 finance service sector jobs in Hong Kong before the financial crisis in 2007. This is projected to jump to 275,000 by 2017, exceeding New York and London.

ICAEW estimates that New York will have 250,000 jobs in the finance sector, down from 275,000 in 2007. London’s finance sector employment will fall from 350,000 in 2007 to just under 250,000.

New York and London used to offer twice as many finance sector jobs than Hong Kong and Singapore.