New York and London vie for crown of world’s top financial centre

[Evergrey]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b388de4c-1...44feabdc0.html

October 1, 2014 2:10 pm

New York and London vie for crown of world’s top financial centre

By Michael Pooler in London



Seven years ago, a report commissioned by Michael Bloomberg, New York’s then mayor, warned the city was in danger of being dethroned as the world’s financial capital by London.

New York was becoming less attractive as a place to do financial services business because of a mixture of excessive litigation, stifling regulation and restrictive immigration rules, according to about 50 chief executives interviewed by McKinsey for the study. London, by contrast, was exerting a pull on banks and investment houses as British politicians trumpeted the capital’s “light touch” regulation.

Six years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, both financial centres are transformed. Banks on both sides of the Atlantic were floored by the crisis, but, having taken risk off their balance sheets, are now bouncing back.

Regulators, meanwhile, have toughened their safety and soundness requirements and, particularly in the US, are on a mission to extract maximum penalties for past misdeeds.

Where does that leave the head-to-head battle between New York and London? Which financial centre is in the ascendancy? And will Asia’s hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai steal the global crown?

For now, the largest New York-listed banks by market capitalisation dwarf their London-listed rivals and the city remains the undisputed global king of equities.

Its two stock exchanges – NYSE, which this month hosted the Alibaba initial public offering, and Nasdaq – have held IPOs that raised a combined $77bn so far this year, or 41 per cent of the $186bn raised globally, according to Dealogic. London raised just over $25bn, for a share of 14 per cent.

New York is also home to four out of every 10 hedge funds.

Christian Meissner, global head of corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says the world’s deepest capital markets are in New York.

“As much as London might think it’s the financial centre, I think New York is still ultimately the centre of the financial system.”

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[Perklol]

Center, anyone?

[dc_denizen]

More ferraris driving around in London than NYC.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

More ferraris driving around in London than NYC.

More ferraris driving around Orange County than London, though. So apparently Corona del Mar is the financial capital.

[jigglysquishy]

Originally Posted by Eveningsong

Center, anyone?

Centre is the proper spelling in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Since the article was written in the UK, centre is the proper spelling.

[antinimby]

The wealthy in NY aren't really into driving fancy cars anyway. They will usually get chauffered in black cars.

[MolsonExport]

London is a centre of global finance, whereas NYC is a center of global finance.


please not another vs thread on the topic

[dc_denizen]

whereas Chicago is no longer a major center or centre.

Toronto on the other hand is moving to become the 3rd largest centre in the English speaking world. Its progress as a centre has been amazing.

/vs

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

whereas Chicago is no longer a major center or centre.

Toronto on the other hand is moving to become the 3rd largest centre in the English speaking world. Its progress as a centre has been amazing.

/vs

Uh, how do you figure/based on what? As far as I recall, Chicago is doing quite fine on it's own...unless you're only here to cause trouble..

[chris08876]

This sounds like a prime candidate for a versus thread.

O dear....

[Steely Dan]

london vs. new york never leads anywhere constructive on this forum.