The global financial centers are in fierce competition. Size alone is no longer a unique selling proposition of a financial center. More important is consistent financial center regulation with modern transparency and compliance standards. Various factors play a decisive role such as a country's general political and regulatory environment, its governance structure and efficiency, the scope and quality of the services provided by its financial institutions, the safety of its banks and how strictly they are regulated, and its exposure to corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing. 

However, the reputational gains associated with an exemplary financial center regulation also come with costs. Financial institutions will typically have to expand their risk management and compliance departments. Client relationships have to be reassessed and redefined, product offerings have to be reviewed, transactions have to pass compliance tests. On the other side, stricter financial regulation and enforcement typically benefit individual financial institutions through lower funding costs and they have a greater entrepreneurial freedom of action thanks to a clear set of rules. 

Dr. Markus Bürgi, CFOO of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) explains: "Against this background our intention is to launch a simple and understandable financial regulation index which―and this is a novelty―assesses and classifies countries in terms of their adoption of, compliance with, and enforcement of a set of global standards.”

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