What do you think makes a city the world’s financial center? Is it a strategic location or big business in it?. These two options are indeed a benchmark for a city to become a world financial center.
A number of cities that act as world financial centers have more interesting features than these two indicators.
To be considered a financial center, a city must have a high focus on financial institutions, well-developed infrastructure and communication systems.
Not only that, the city must have the ability to print international and domestic trade transactions in large numbers.
To become a financial center, a city is also required to be able to implement flexible financial policies.
The World’s Largest Financial Center City
A number of cities in several countries were able to meet these requirements. Here are the five largest financial centers in the world:
1. London, England
The city that managed to escape from the second world war became the largest financial center in the world. London is one of the metropolitan areas with the largest gross domestic product in the world.
The capital city of England is also home to many international financial, insurance and banking institutions.
London has many major industries such as technology finance, private healthcare, insurance, electronics, media, digital, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, construction, insurance, tourism, real estate and even fashion.
London is also a city visited by many tourists in the world. As a result, Londoners are among the most diverse populations in the world.
2. New York, United States of America
New York is the largest financial center in the US. Its largest industries include finance and services, publishing, real estate, media and entertainment, telecommunications, manufacturing and commerce. New York is home to many of the Fortune 500 companies.
Within it, New York is home to around 1,000 companies including eight of the world’s top 10 securities firms, more than 20 top law firms, and more than 200 banks representing each state.
The city is also the base of operations for Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock exchanges by dollar volume. New York is also an example of a mixture of cultures from various nations around the world.
3. Hong Kong
Starting from a small fishing village, Hong Kong has grown to become one of the largest financial centers in the world as well as the business center for companies in the Asia Pacific region.
Although Hong Kong is part of China, the island is considered the free economic center in the world according to the Index of Economic Freedom.
Hong Kong is also said to be the easiest place to obtain business capital. In addition, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the 7th largest stock exchange in the world. No wonder its gross domestic product has grown 87 times since 1961.
4. Singapore
As a small country, Singapore has to relate to other countries in the world to sustain its economy. In order to open up cooperation with various foreign companies, Singapore has made its economy more diverse.
Currently Singapore has advantages in areas such as electronics, oil refineries, chemistry, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences.
The Port of Singapore is also one of the world’s busiest economic routes with shipments reaching one billion tons annually.
Beyond all that, the residents have a good level of discipline and work ethics. These factors make it one of the largest financial centers in the world.
5. Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo is one of the cities with the highest standard of living in the world. Incredibly, the town was originally a small fishing village.
Even more amazing, Tokyo managed to overcome the impact of the great earthquake that occurred in 1923 and the bombing that occurred after the second world war. Today Tokyo hosts some of the world’s largest investment banks and insurance companies.
Tokyo is also known as the center of Japan’s broadcasting, publishing, telecommunications and electronics industries.
The big difference between Tokyo and other cities lies in its sophisticated communication and transportation system. That way, any destination from Tokyo can be reached in less than an hour.
Conclusion
Those are the five largest financial center cities in the world. If you have criticisms and suggestions, write them in the comments column. Hope it is useful.
