The growing importance of the financial sector is illustrated by figures from the World Federation of Exchanges. Data collected by the Federation, which compares data from 52 stock exchanges across the world, show that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) was the 19th largest by market capitalisation (in US$) in July 2010. While the global financial crisis hit the JSE as hard as other exchanges across the world, the financial industry remains robust, and the values on the exchange have seen a slow, but steady recovery since the decline of late 2008.