Financial Centre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about a city with economic importance. For a banking location, see Branch (banking).
A financial centre (financial center) is a major city that is a company and business hub, as well as being home to many world famous banks and stock exchanges.
Financial centres have existed throughout history from ancient centers such as Babylon and Constantinople, until now. At present, the three main financial centers are London, New York and Tokyo. The other main financial centers are Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Chicago, Paris, Shanghai and Singapore.
Historically, financial activity tended to concentrate into certain locations. This is true at present too, the following quote may shed some light on the reasons:
“Financial centres are where market liquidity is and market liquidity is very hard to move. Nobody can move liquidity unilaterally and so once a global centre such as London or New York has been established it is virtually impossible to move. It will take a number of significant factors, acting over a number of years to alter the status quo now that it has been established”
(Head of Trading, London-based investment bank)
[edit] European Financial Centres
London - London (England, UK) is one of the three leading world financial centres. It is famous for its banks and Europe's largest stock exchange, that have been established over hundreds of years (e.g. Lloyd's of London, London Stock Exchange). The financial market of London is also commonly referred to as the City. It has historically been situated around the part of London called Square Mile, but in the 1980's and 1990's a large part of the City of London's wholesale financial services relocated to Canary Wharf.
Frankfurt - Frankfurt plays a major role in German economics, and is famous for its tall skyscrapers and world-wide businesses (e.g. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank). Frankfurt is also home to the European Central Bank
Zurich,Geneva and Basel - Zurich, Switzerland is not one of Europe's largest cities, but is well known for its banks. Geneva is home of the World Trade Organization. The city of Basel, also in Switzerland is home to the International Bank Of Settlements.
Paris - The capital of France is home to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
