Shenzhen advanced one leg up to No. 8 of the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) 29 ranking. The ranking was released Wednesday by Z/Yen Group in partnership with the China Development Institute (CDI). Out of 114 financial centers in the list, four are Chinese cities and all are in the top 10.

The index looks at 143 instrumental factors provided by third parties such as the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations.

It was made based on 65,507 assessments of financial centers provided by 10,774 respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire.

The latest edition evaluated and ranked the world's major financial centers in terms of business environment, human resources, infrastructure, financial industry level, and prestige.

New York, London and Shanghai took the top three spots, while Hong Kong moved up a spot to fourth. Singapore is in fifth, while Tokyo dropped three places down from fourth to seventh. Frankfurt replaced San Francisco by climbing up seven places into the top 10.

Shenzhen ranked fourth in terms of financial industry development level, following New York, London and Singapore.

"Shenzhen moves up due to its comprehensive competitiveness and development," Yu Lingqu, vice director of the CDI Finance and Modern Industry Research Institute, said. He suggested Shenzhen should enhance its synergy of regional cooperation and utilize its advantages in finance and technology.

Wang Shuxun, head of the Finance Department of the School of Business of Southern University of Science and Technology, thought financial innovation lies in aiding the development of the real economy. Shenzhen's global financial influence will be stronger if it utilizes the advantages of institutional innovation and steadily moves ahead step by step.