Hong Kong top for financial dev: WEF

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GENEVA, Dec 14 (AFP): Hong Kong has overtaken the United States and Britain to rank top in a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey on countries' financial health published Tuesday. Strong scores in non-banking financial services such as initial public offering (IPO) activity and insurance helped lift Hong Kong to rank number one on the annual Financial Development Report-the first Asian financial centre to lead the list, the WEF said. The US fell to second place amid continuing concern over its financial stability but its score remained almost unchanged from 2010 thanks to its strong foreign exchange and derivatives markets. Britain meanwhile dropped from second to third place, with the WEF citing lower scores on securitization and stock market launch activity.