What Turns Cities into International Financial Centres?

Abstract

Globalisation and technology continue to fuel worldwide competition among cities for the status of an international financial centre. This study introduces novel data on revenues earned from international finance in 2000-14 by city, and investigates their determinants. It shows that IFCs develop in cities that are leading domestic financial centres, with large, deep, flexible and open labour markets and a large and internationalised non-financial sector, in countries with strong rule of law and contract enforcement. Stock market size and prices, corporate and finance-specific taxation, English as the official language, legal family of origin, and the GMT zone do not matter.

JEL Classification: F30, F60, F65, G24, R30