While London has occasionally been challenged by New York, it remains the number one international finance centre (IFC) in The Banker’s 2016 ranking, with an indexed score of 100. New York is second with 95.1, followed by Hong Kong (75.1), Singapore (74.9) and Tokyo (69.7). Despite attempts by Paris and Frankfurt to take the crown, London has been the undisputed financial capital of Europe since the end of the 18th century.
The qualities that make a successful IFC include infrastructure, time zone, regulation, connectivity and workforce skills. London scores highly in all of these and is a classic industry ‘cluster’, with its self-reinforcing concentration of players and support services. It has the English language and, no small virtue, English law. At least part of its allure for non-UK firms, however, is the UK’s membership of the EU, which gives passporting rights into the rest of the EU for licensed institutions.
