London is the western European international financial centre (IFC) that received the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 12 months to the end of May 2015: a total of $915.1m, according to estimates by database fDi Intelligence.
Second placed Madrid’s $274.9m is less than one-third the value of investment that flowed to the UK capital. However, this sum is still significant considering Spain’s economic struggles, and it puts the country's capital city ahead of some of western Europe's more esteemed IFCs by this measure. Paris, for example, is in fourth place with $196.7m, while Frankfurt does not make the top 10 – the German city attracted only $93.5m during the period in question.