Bermuda has fallen one place in the world's top financial centres rankings, according to a report published by the City of London.

The fifth Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), which is compiled by the Z/Yen Group and updated every six months, ranked Bermuda in 27th place out of 62, between Montreal in Canada and Australia's Melbourne.

The report monitors the perspectives of market practioners and regulators across the world on the position of their own and other international financial centres, using a combination of questionnaire responses and data to analyse the way those thoughts are formed, specifically highlighting the impact of the global economic downturn on their performances.

Bermuda or Hamilton also saw its rating score slip by 22 to 564, while London and New York continued to dominate the listing, remaining in first and second place respectively, despite arguably being at the epicentre of the world's financial crisis, while the gap between second and third-placed Singapore has widened to 81 points.

The rating was worked out based on a range of indices, including a measure of the country's skilled workforce and the perceived level of corruption in a given jurisdiction. Also taken into account were the opinions of those familiar with each financial centre.

The Island's decreased rating is in line with declines in other small financial centres, such as the Bahamas and Monaco, while larger global hubs like Dublin and Geneva have seen their ratings fall by less. The Z/Yen Group describes this as indicative of a "flight to safety" during tough economic times, with "people in financial services putting their faith in the quality of well-established financial centres".

But Bermuda came in at number five on the Index's list of offshore financial centres, with Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands occupying the top four spots.

In terms of industry sector sub-indices, however, the Island gained one place, climbing to number eight in insurance, at the expense of Munich in Germany.

Bermuda's rise up the Top 10 insurance centres puts it below industry competitor Dublin, listed at number six, but above the Swiss city of Geneva.

Bermuda, Dublin and Geneva were the only jurisdictions to improve their rankings over the past six months in the insurance category, with the large insurance bases of London, New York, Zurich, Singapore and Hong Kong unchanged in their top five positions.