A night view of the Bund in Shanghai, July 21, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Shanghai ranked 16th in the 20th Global Financial Centers Index released on Monday, becoming the highest ranked Chinese mainland city and showing its rising competitiveness in the global financial sector.

In the new ranking, which was also released for the first time in Shanghai, the top four cities are London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong, while other cities in China including Shenzhen, Beijing, Qingdao and Dalian are also shown on the list.

The Asia-Pacific region, with more cities performing well in the financial sector, is expected to play more important role in the list in the future.

"Shanghai has made very good progress to retain the 16th place, following Hong Kong to become a global financial cluster with a comprehensive system of financial related services very soon," said Mark Yeandle, associate director of the Z/Yen Group.

As the emerging financial center in China, Shanghai is currently undergoing a transformation to become a global financial center by 2020. There are nearly 1,500 financial institutions in the city. Shanghai also has the world's largest trading volume of securities in the stock market, the world's top trading amount of spot gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange and the fourth largest stock value in the world.

"As China's major financial center, Shanghai is marching toward the goal of becoming a financial center in accordance with China's economic strength and the renminbi's internationalization by 2020," said Zheng Yang, director general of Shanghai Financial Services Office.