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 stock exchanges. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Bank of America branch in Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California A branch, banking centre or financial centre is a retail location where a bank or financial institution offers a wide array of face to face service to its customers. ... “World city” redirects here. ... Look up company in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In economics, a business is a legally-recognized organizational entity existing within an economically free country designed to sell goods and/or services to consumers, usually in an effort to generate profit. ... Hub may refer to: Look up hub in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ...

Financial centres have existed throughout history in ancient centres such as Babylon and Constantinople. At present, the five main financial centres are London, New York City, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Zurich. Additional financial centres include: Milan, Frankfurt, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Sydney and Auckland. One of the most commonly accepted standards to determine how a city is ranked as a financial centre is the Global Financial Centres Indexby City of London Corporation, which is updated annually. For other uses, see Babylon (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city before the Fall of Constantinople (1453). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ... Type Anti-tank Nationality Joint France/Germany Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City 234. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ... Shenzhen is a sub-provincial city of Guangdong province in southern China. ... This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ... For other uses, see Auckland (disambiguation). ... The Corporation of London is the municipal governing body of the City of London. ...

“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) Market liquidity is a business, economics or investment term that refers to an assets ability to be easily converted through an act of buying or selling without causing a significant movement in the price and with minimum loss of value. ...

Examples of European financial centres

• London 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 the Square Mile, but in the 1980s and 1990s a large part of the City of London's wholesale financial services relocated to Canary Wharf.

• Frankfurt plays a major role in German economics, and is famous for its tall skyscrapers and world-wide businesses such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank). Frankfurt is also home to the European Central Bank.

• Zurich is well known for its banks.
• Geneva is home of the World Trade Organization.
• Basel is home to the Bank for International Settlements.

• Paris is home to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... It has been suggested that Council of Lloyds be merged into this article or section. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Deutsche Bank AG (IPA: [1]) (ISIN: DE0005140008, NYSE: DB) (English: ) is a bank operating worldwide and employing more than 75,000 people (June, 2007). ... Commerzbank AG (DAX: CBK) is the second-largest bank in Germany (after Deutsche Bank) and headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. ... Headquarters Coordinates , , Established 1 January 1998 President Jean-Claude Trichet Central Bank of Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain Currency Euro ISO 4217 Code EUR Reserves €43bn directly, €338bn through the Eurosystem (including gold deposits). ... Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German:   //, Italian: Ginevra //, Romansh: Genevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... “WTO” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Basel (disambiguation). ... BIS Headquarters in Basel The Bank for International Settlements (or BIS) is an international organization of central banks which exists to foster cooperation among central banks and other agencies in pursuit of monetary and financial stability. It carries out its work through subcommittees, the secretariats it hosts, and through its... This article is about the capital of France. ... The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), (in French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques; OCDE) is an international organisation of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. ...

See also

• Qatar Financial Centre

Established in March 2005, the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) is a business and financial centre located in Doha, providing legal and business infrastructure for financial services. ...

References