INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE AND GLOBAL CITY

Abstract

The economic crisis of 2008-2010 caused extensive discussion among leading economists, financial experts, politicians about the need to reform the global financial system with capitals in New York and London. Today international financial centres are the key elements of the global financial system, which lined up mechanisms to attract and manage capital flows around the world. At the same time, in the academic literature and studies of leading financial organizations, there isn’t an established definition of “international financial center”. IFC is regarded as a place of concentration of banks and financial companies’ offices, and as a platform for national businesses access to the global capital market and as a global city with the special conditions of doing business. The article provides an overview of approach to the definition of “international financial centre” in the foreign and domestic academic literature. Considerable attention is paid to the approach of defining IFC as a function of the global city in terms of urban studies, sociology and geography. Research on key features of the IFC is based on the analysis of GFCI methodology, which is compiled by Z / Yen Group Limited. The author concludes that more attention in defining IFC should be given to its role as a global city, rather then its financial intermediary function, taking into account the growing role of such factors of competitiveness as business and city environment, human capital.

Keywords

• international finance
• regional economics
• financial globalization
• global financial system
• international financial centre
• global city
• the global financial centres index