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A financial centre (financial center in American English) or financial hub is a location with a significant concentration of participants in banking asset management, insurance, and financial markets, with venues and supporting services for these activities to take place.[3][4] Participants can include financial intermediaries (such as banks and brokers), institutional investors (such as investment managers, pension funds, insurers, and hedge funds), and issuers (such as companies and governments). Trading activity can take place on venues such as exchanges and involve clearing houses, although many transactions take place over-the-counter (OTC), directly between participants. Financial centres usually host companies that offer a wide range of financial services, for example relating to mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, or corporate actions; or which participate in other areas of finance, such as private equity, hedge funds, and reinsurance. Ancillary financial services include rating agencies, as well as provision of related professional services, particularly legal advice and accounting services.[5]
As of the 2024 edition of the Global Financial Centres Index, New York City, London and Hong Kong ranked top 3 globally, while other well known financial centres include Singapore, Shanghai, Frankfurt and Tokyo, amongst others.
- ^ "The Global Financial Centres Index 36". Long Finance. 24 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ Jones, Huw. "New York widens lead over London in top finance centres index". Reuters. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ Kenton, Will. "How Financial Hubs Work". Investopedia. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ "Financial Centres: What, Where and Why?" (PDF). The University of Western Ontario. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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