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"International finance centre" redirects here. For Landmark in Hong Kong, see International Finance Centre. This article is about a city with economic importance. For a banking location, see Branch (banking).  A financial centre is a global city that is a company and business hub, as well as being home to many world famous banks and/or stock exchanges. An international financial centre is a non-specific term of reference usually meant to designate a city as a major participant in international financial markets for the trading of cross-border assets. An international financial centre (sometimes abbreviated to IFC) will usually have at least one significant stock market as well as other financial markets, as well as being subject to a significant presence of international banks. According to the WEF (World Economic Forum) London in the UK has now replaced Wall Street as the centre of the financial world, despite concerns over confidence in both American and European markets due to the recession.
Global Financial Centres IndexMain article: Global Financial Centres Index As of 2009, the top ten financial centres according to the Global Financial Centres Index in the world, by country are:[1][2] The Global Financial Centres Index is published by the City of London Corporation and is updated annually. CriticismThis study, is given by the city of London.[3] Paris, though one of the four global cities is strangely ignored and ranked in twentieth position. Such sentence in conclusions is symptomatic: London’s lead as the main banking centre in Europe is consolidated as Frankfurt and Paris have both declined in the ratings, relative to other centres or London’s lead as a broad based financial centre in Europe certainly seems to have been consolidated. However a study undertaken by MasterCard also puts London as the world's centre of commerce. The financial crisis of 2009 has also highlighted the United Kingdom's dependence on the financial sector as it and the United States have been the most dramatically hit, France and Germany have not had to intervene in the financial sector anywhere near as much as the UK, as their financial sectors are much smaller. Worldwide Centres of Commerce IndexMain article: Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index As of 2008, the top ten commercial centres according to the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index in the world, by country are:[4]
The Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index is published by MasterCard Worldwide and is updated annually. List of Major financial centres by locationAfricaAmericas
Asia
Europe
OceaniaOffshore Financial CentresMain article: Offshore financial centre An offshore financial centre, although not precisely defined, is usually a low-tax, lightly regulated jurisdiction which specializes in providing the corporate and commercial infrastructure to facilitate the use of that jurisdiction for the formation of offshore companies and for the investment of offshore funds. The term offshore financial centre is a relatively modern neologism, first coined in the 1980s.[7] Although the terms are not synonymous, many leading offshore finance centres are regarded as "tax havens", and the lack of precise definitions often leads to confusion between the concepts. In Tolley's International Initiatives Affecting Financial Havens[8] the author in the Glossary of Terms defines an "offshore financial centre" in forthright terms as "a politically correct term for what used to be called a tax haven." However, he then qualifies this by adding "The use of this term makes the important point that a jurisdiction may provide specific facilities for offshore financial centres without being in any general sense a tax haven." See alsoReferences
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