thumb|right|300px|The [[City of London, London, United Kingdom.]]

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 Index

thumb|right|The New York Stock Exchange
As of 2009, the top ten financial centres according to the Global Financial Centres Index in the world, by country are:

• London

• New York City

• Hong Kong

• Singapore

• Shenzhen

• Zurich

• Tokyo, Japan

• Chicago

• Geneva

• Shanghai

The Global Financial Centres Index is published by the City of London Corporation and is updated annually.

Criticism

This study, is given by the city of London. 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 Index

As of 2008, the top ten commercial centres according to the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index in the world, by country are:

• - London

• - New York City

• - Tokyo

• - Chicago

• - Paris

• - Frankfurt

• - Seoul

• - Amsterdam

The Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index is published by MasterCard Worldwide and is updated annually.

List of Major financial centres by location

Africa

• - Johannesburg

Americas

• - Buenos Aires, is one of the largest financial centres in Latin America. Home of the MERVal and of the Argentine Headquarters of HSBC.

• - São Paulo, which is the wealthiest city of Brazil and the most important financial centre in Latin America. Home of the BM&F Bovespa, the 13th largest stock exchange in the world in terms of market value.

• - Rio de Janeiro

• - Mexico City

• - Santiago

• - Montreal is home to the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest bank in Canada as well as one of the world's most recognized financial institutions

• - Toronto, home to the World Headquarters of Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Canada, Rogers Communications and home to the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

• - Vancouver

• - Panama City

• - Boston

• - Chicago, home of the leading derivatives markets: Chicago Board of Trade, Eurex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

• - New York, home of (amongst others) the New York Stock Exchange (the world's largest by capitalisation), the NASDAQ and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

• - San Francisco

• - Washington, D.C.

Asia

• - Beijing

• - Shanghai

• - Shenzhen

• , which has one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia (namely, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) by market capitalisation, the world's second-highest value of initial public offerings, and is the world's freest economy.

• - Mumbai

• - New Delhi

• - Karachi

• - Jakarta

• - Osaka

• - Tokyo

• - Kuala Lumpur

• , which has significance in foreign exchange and derivatives trading, and the REITs market.

• - Seoul is one of the main financial centers in East Asia, along with Tokyo, Japan. Home to many foreign financial institutions, banks, and other world corporations, Seoul is fast becoming a choice for foreign investors.

• - Taipei

• - Bangkok

• - Ho Chi Minh City

Europe

• - Vienna

• - Brussels

• - Prague

• - Copenhagen

• - Helsinki

• - Paris

• - Frankfurt, home of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Europe's second largest) and Xetra.

• - Athens

• - Budapest

• - Dublin

• - Milan

• - Amsterdam

• - Oslo

• - Warsaw

• - Lisbon

• - Moscow

• - Madrid

• - Stockholm

• - Geneva

• - Zürich

• - Istanbul

• - Edinburgh, Scotland

• - Leeds, the UK's second largest financial centre.

• - the City of London (often referred to as "the City"), London, home of (amongst others) the London Stock Exchange, AIM (the world's largest small-cap exchange) and Lloyd's of London insurance market.

Oceania

thumb|100px|[[Sydney, Australia]]

• - Sydney

• - Melbourne

• - Wellington

Offshore Financial Centres

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. 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 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 also

• Qatar Financial Centre