Results of survey published on Wednesday showed that New York bypassed London as the most attractive financial center, Reuters reports. Decision of the UK to leave European Union made banks to transfer jobs from the city to preserve access to single market of Europe.

Brexit is going to be the biggest challenge for financial industry of London since financial crisis of 2007-2009, as banks and insurers will lose access to EU, the largest trading bloc in the world.

New York took first place. London, Hong Kong and Singapore followed it in global index of financial centers that evaluates 100 cities by such factors as infrastructure and qualified personnel.

Brexit is getting close, however, it is still unclear whether London will be able to trade with other financial centers of Europe, founder of index notes.

Since the UK voted for exit from the EU more than two years ago, some of the most influential financial companies in London started transferring personnel from London to EU to preserve existing trade flow after 2019. Most major banks of the US, UK and Japan informed about creating centers in Frankfurt, Paris or Dublin.

It is expected that about 5000 working places will be transferred or created in EU by March of the next year.

Other European centers also changed their positions in rating. Zurich grew from 16th place to 9th. Frankfurt rose from 20th place to 10th.