[Marcu]

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9753240
Financial centres are booming, despite predictions that new technology would spell their doom. But competition is getting keener.

. . .

Although New York and London are pre-eminent, other big cities play important international roles of their own. Some have prospered as the financial capitals of big national markets (Tokyo and Sydney) or the gateways to emerging regions (Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai). Others have found success in niches. These include Geneva (private banking), Zurich and Bermuda (insurance and reinsurance), Chicago (futures and options), Qatar (infrastructure finance) and Bahrain (Islamic finance). Yet many of these, too, are trying to diversify.

Governments are paying more attention than ever to wooing and keeping financial firms because of the benefits they bring with them, such as highly paid jobs, large tax revenues and international connections. In New York and Hong Kong the financial sector accounts for more than one-third of total city tax revenues. In smaller centres it often makes up a large chunk of total employment.

(click link for more)
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9753240

http://www.economist.com/images/20070915/CSR892.gif

[jcchii]

interesting, thanks

[arbeiter]

Although the data is a bit suspect: the data for London is only encompassing the City whereas Canary Wharf and the Docklands contributes a lot as well. And Paris is for the entire Ile-de-France, which would be roughly similar to "Greater London".

[malek]

what the hell is Dubai doing there? I would put money on Toronto having more employees/gdp than Dubai, heck I would even put Montreal having more employees/gdp in finance than Dubai.

[BTinSF]

Hard to read that graph but it looks to me like Dubai has maybe 10,000 people working in finance.

San Francisco, which did not make the graph (The Economist has repeatedly dissed my town of late), has nearly 20,000 not counting lawyers involved with corporate law (source: http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/california/san-francisco/work ) and also not counting low level bank employees which I wonder about in the other cities the Economist mentions. As the hometown of Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo, Barclays Global Markets and a number of mutual funds and boutique investment houses it has a bustling finance center. But it's real niche is as the legal and financial base for the Silicon Valley tech industries. While their engineers may be based in the Valley, their lawyers, accountants and financiers are often in SF.

[malek]

There's only two heavy weights in Finance and they are New York and Tokyo no matter what that silly graph is showing.

[Nowhereman1280]

Everyone knows that Chicago is the dominator nowadays, they even said so on CNBC's Powerlunch:

"Our viewers in New York and London may be surprised, but the reason we chose to start off our tour (of cities) in Chicago is that it is the financial Capital of the world." ~CNBC commentator

Very interesting list, I'd like to see exactly what the breakdown of the numbers is, i.e. what the exact sectors contribute where.

[nick_taylor]

Although the data is a bit suspect: the data for London is only encompassing the City whereas Canary Wharf and the Docklands contributes a lot as well. And Paris is for the entire Ile-de-France, which would be roughly similar to "Greater London".It is rather off that they include only the City, and not Canary Wharf, where two of Britain's banks are headquartered (as well as numerous the European operations of several American investment banks) and the West End (interestingly in the same area that which is the centre for hedge funds (interestingly in the same area as The Economists' HQ), and various other finance-orientated groups. In addition, financial services have spread around the periphery of the City (notable Holborn and London Bridge), which in turn would not be included with such a figure.

The City afterall is only 2.6km². For comprison, the Île-de-France covers 12,012km², and New York City 785.6km².

If you were to add Canary Wharf, and the West End, then I suspect the figure would rise above that for New York, but what it does tell however is that the City probably has the highest concentration of people in finance on the planet; and there are only 2 150m+ towers.

[Minato Ku]

But one problem, It is 7.5 % of what, the city doesn't have 4.6 million jobs.

[Ardent]

But one problem, It is 7.5 % of what, the city doesn't have 4.6 million jobs.

Firstly to just use 1 square mile out of 609 Sq miles of Greater London, and to neglect areas such as Canary Wharf effects the accuracy of London's figures.

Fair enough the City or Square Mile has a major role in London's finance industry but so do other areas such as Canary Wharf, the City Fringes and increasingly the plush hedge fund offices of the West End.

In terms of Foreign Banks the City or Square Mile plays hosts to 230, but there are over 500 in London, more than half being outside the Square Mile.

Whilst in terms of employment, many people who work in the financial industry in London, don't live in London, they commute from the large houses and leafy suburbs of the Home Counties and Stock Broker Belt, so the figures showing the percentage of Londoners employed in Finance are also misleading.

[the urban politician]

Everyone knows that Chicago is the dominator nowadays, they even said so on CNBC's Powerlunch:

"Our viewers in New York and London may be surprised, but the reason we chose to start off our tour (of cities) in Chicago is that it is the financial Capital of the world." ~CNBC commentator

Very interesting list, I'd like to see exactly what the breakdown of the numbers is, i.e. what the exact sectors contribute where.

^ Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as calling Chicago the "financial capital of the world", but I agree that it's in the interest of established parties, including contributers of the Economist, to keep New York and London at the top no matter how the field changes.

CNBC also called Chicago the "biggest financial market in the world" and the place where "all the action is", seeing more trading volume than anywhere else.

But the Economist wants to call it a "niche" financial center listed alongside Bermuda and Qatar. That level of unnecessary downplaying is typical of our elitist journals that continue to have their minds made no matter how significantly the field has changed.

[niwell]

There's only two heavy weights in Finance and they are New York and Tokyo no matter what that silly graph is showing.

Umm.... London?

Like arbeiter pointed out, that data is for the city alone. If Greater London was used (an area still much smaller than Ile-de-France) then the numbers would likely be much higher.

[WonderlandPark]

Even using the 1 square mile of London City, the GDP in that square mile is simply amazing. Throw in Greater London and it probably matches NYC.

Does the NYC number only include the 5 boroughs? Or is Northern NJ and the Western cities of Connecticut in there?

[Minato Ku]

For the number they use the "city of London" data but for the percentage it is the greater London numbers.

So it is 13% of Greater London GDP and not "the city of London" GDP and 7.5% of Greater London employement.

:koko:

[malek]

Umm.... London?


close third, but doesn't compare to NYC and Tokyo.

[Jularc]

Even using the 1 square mile of London City, the GDP in that square mile is simply amazing. Throw in Greater London and it probably matches NYC.

Does the NYC number only include the 5 boroughs? Or is Northern NJ and the Western cities of Connecticut in there?

I am not sure maybe they are just talking about Manhattan or the Financial center itself.

I found this and it says that about 800,000 work in Financial activities in the New York Metro area,

http://www.bls.gov/ro2/eu9491.htm (go to table 1)

[Marcu]

But the Economist wants to call it a "niche" financial center listed alongside Bermuda and Qatar. That level of unnecessary downplaying is typical of our elitist journals that continue to have their minds made no matter how significantly the field has changed.

It's not unnecessary downplay. It does not comment on the size, just on the scope. Chicago is certainly not a generalist on the level of NYC or London. It does something fairly narrow on a volume level and it does it very well. That is certainly not a bad thing or something to take offense to.

For the sake of comparison, take a company like Starbucks and a company like GM. Starbucks serves a niche market - mid to high end coffee drinkers. GM is a generalist, making over a dozen vehicles and owning significant parts of totally unrelated companies like Dish Network and several military contractors. Does this necessarily mean GM is better off than Starbucks? Of course not.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^
All of this just makes me hope that falling interest rates will make it all that much easier for CME Group to buy a stock exchange like London Stock Exchange, and shut the Coasties up for good. Or maybe they should buy the NME or NYSE, that would be fun...

but in all seriousness, I really wonder if those acquisition rumors around CME will come to fruition any time soon.

[Marcu]

^ Doubt the London Stock Exchange thing. Falling interest rates usually mean a weaker dollar against the Euro/Pound and therefore less buying power.

[Ardent]

For the number they use the "city of London" data but for the percentage it is the greater London numbers.

So it is 13% of Greater London GDP and not "the city of London" GDP and 7.5% of Greater London employement.

:koko:

Thata funny because it just says the City*, and it doesn't matter about employment, as I have already explained a massive percentage of city workers come from the leafy home counties and stock broker belt. They commute from Surrey, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Sussex etc etc.

As for the GDP, how can you work out London's financial GDP just using figures relating to the City or Square Mile - you can't - the only way you can measure London's financial industry and GDP is by looking at the figures for Canary Wharf, the West End, City Fringes and the figures as a whole, not just the figures shown in the chart which relate only to the city of London or Square Mile :koko:

Btw of the nearly 8 million people who live in Greater London, only nine thousand live in the Square Mile or City of London, and the majority of them live in one small area with two housing and an art development.

To measure one square mile is ridiculous....

[Minato Ku]

Thata funny because it just says the City*, and it doesn't matter about employment as a massive percentage of city workers come from the home counties and stock broker belt.
[...]

Btw of the nearly 8 million people who live in Greater London, only nine thousand in the Square Mile or City of London.

I don't get your point
What matter between the number of employements, the GDP, the number of inhabitants in Greater London and the city workers who come from the home counties ? :shrug:

[Ardent]

I don't get your point
What matter between the number of employements, the GDP, the number of inhabitants of Greater London and the city workers who come from the home counties ? :shrug:

The reason London has a lower percentage of the city's employed population working in Finance, is because the majority of them do not live in the London area. Finance jobs pay extremely well and many of them live in the stock broker belt - Surrey, Home Counties and what is called the commuter belt.

[arbeiter]

Well, to be fair, New York's numbers should include its metro area a la Ile-de-France - there is significant financial business in Jersey City and other parts of New Jersey, and not to mention the extremely important hedge fund industry in Stamford, CT.

[Minato Ku]

You don't understand, it is not the number of people who works in the finance but the number of financial jobs.
The people could live in GL, in the homies coutries or in Leeds, it don't change anything about the number of employements in the City.

Unlike most city, Paris didn't fusioned in the 20th century, with its inner suburbs, so in the case of Paris, Brooklyn would not be in the New York.
Actually no greater Paris (Inner city + inner suburbs) exist that's why they take Ile de France figure.

[Ardent]

You don't understand, it is not the number of people who works in the finance but the number of financial jobs.
The people could live in GL, in the homies coutries or in Leeds, it don't change anything about the number of employements in the City.

Unlike most city, Paris didn't fusioned in the 20th century, with its inner suburbs, so in the case of Paris, Brooklyn would not be in the New York.
Actually no greater Paris (Inner city + inner suburbs) exist that's why they take Ile de France figure.

That's the number of financial jobs for the city, not London as a whole, there
are another 100,000 Financial Jobs in Canary Wharf. That is why the chart says
London* then *The City.

As far as I read the figures they are saying out of 7.5 million people in Greater London,
350,000 Work in Finance in the City of London. Which is not accurate, as there are
more like 7.8 million living in Greater London, and a hundred thousand work in finance
in Canary Wharf alone, with a possible hundred thousand more in other parts of London.

London's population has grown by nearly 600,000 since 1989, and by 2016 is projected to reach 8.1 million, a further increase of 700,000 The driver of this unprecedented new social development is London's role as a world city, comparable only with New York and Tokyo in the scale of its involvement in world capital markets.

Finance and business services, with a growth of 550,000 jobs since 1993 alone, are at the heart of this expansion. This growth, and London's global role, makes it a focal point for dynamic sectors, such as the Creative Industries, in which 400,000 Londoners now work.

http://www.london.gov.uk/londonissues/economicpolicy.jsp

[Minato Ku]

That's the number of financial jobs for the city, not London as a whole, there
are another 100,000 Financial Jobs in Canary Wharf.


That's we agree. :yes:

[Ardent]

That's we agree. :yes:

We agree that the chart is absoloute rubbish.

[Ardent]

City of London (Square Mile) - Facts

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/media_centre/keyfacts.htm

$1,109bn foreign exchange turnover each day in London (32% global share)

40% of the global foreign equity market

70% of all eurobonds traded in London

20% of international bank lending arranged in the UK (largest single market)

The world's leading market for international insurance. UK worldwide premium income reached £167 bn in 2005

416m contracts a year traded on London’s international futures exchange Euronext.liffe

£3,450bn total funds under management in the UK in 2005

£1,301m in overseas earnings generated by the maritime industry in London in 2004

£1,607bn pension fund assets under management (third largest in the world)

$643bn daily turnover in ‘over the counter’ derivatives (43% of global share)

80% of the $8bn EU Emissions Trading Scheme

75% of Fortune 500 companies have London offices

252 foreign banks in the City of London

610 foreign companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)

Financial Times - City/Country Comparisons -

http://www.ft.com/indepth/newcity/facts

The Financial Times is correct to note that more money is now managed in London than in the four top American financial centers combined, including New York.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/email/crd_newsletter11-06.html

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8058157

London has more Foreign Banks than any other City in the World, and is home to a massive percentage of the Worlds Largest Companies.

http://www.london.gov.uk/london-life/business-and-jobs/financial-centre.jsp

Along with The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development there are more than 550 international banks and 170 global securities houses have set up offices in London. By contrast Frankfurt has around 280, Paris, 270 and New York 250.

The London foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with an average daily turnover of $504 billion, more than the New York and Tokyo combined.

The City of London now has a financial workforce of 350,000, whilst Canary Wharf now has 90,000 (Dec 2006) workers making it nearly as large as Frankfurt's Financial Zone (it's next biggest European Rival). The City is curently building more office space, with capacity for another 50,000 employees (up to 400,000), and Canary Wharf is also building at a rapid rate, and is set to have a 100,000 workforce by 2009, with the eventual aim of doubling this to 200,000 by 2025.

However the City is itself expanding (beyond the square mile) in to it's fringes, with parts of areas such as Spitalfields, Holborn and Finsbury etc becoming extensions of the city.

The City has also expanded to the west. Hedge funds have plumped for boutique offices in the choicer parts of the West End, the new Paternoster Square is on the Western Fringes of the City, and areas such as Fleet Street have become home to large International Banks such as Goldman Sachs.


Recent News:

Another hedge fund opts for Regent Street; a hedge fund- Och Ziff Capital Management- has set a record for rental levels on Regent Street by taking the second floor of the old Dickins and Jones building at more than £90 per sq ft for the 26,000 sq ft space. Ironically the previous highest rent was also a hedge fund in the form of Bridgepoint Capital who sublet the top floor of 30 Warwick Street, which has frontage onto Regent Street, where they agreed to pay £62.50 per sq ft 18 months ago.

Estates Gazette 18.08.07

[Ardent]

http://www.economist.com/images/20061021/CFN966.gif

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/Jaeger1000/400.jpg?t=1189594727
Canary Wharf

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee240/Pullman1000/3.jpg
City of London - Square Mile

Twenty years ago, Canary Wharf was a wasteland in east London's docklands. Now it sprouts skyscrapers, including Britain's tallest, that provide palatial premises for global banks with giant trading floors. There are now almost as many financial staff working in just this one area as in the whole of Frankfurt, London's main European rival, says George Iacobescu, Canary Wharf Group's chief executive.

The City has also expanded to the west. Hedge funds have plumped for boutique offices in the choicer parts of the West End, like Mayfair. And a short cab-ride to the north at Marylebone, BNP Paribas employs 3,100 staff—the most in any of its buildings in the world—at a swish office that opened in 1997. The French bank's trading floor, with 850 desks and 2,550 screens, could double as a football pitch.

Within the square mile itself, the City's incessant demand for more space has led to a huge wave of new developments. To the east of the great dome of St Paul's Cathedral, built in the late 17th century, a cluster of 21st-century skyscrapers is planned as new towers with names like the “Helter-skelter” join the “Gherkin”, completed three years ago. Within less than a decade, the view from the Thames may look like the illustration above.

The property boom reflects the City's expansion since Big Bang. The specialist workforce that carries out international financial business has risen by a half in the past 15 years, according to CEBR, a consultancy that monitors the London economy. These highly paid financiers, traders and professionals are now much more cosmopolitan

By the early 1980s, the City had become an international banking bazaar. Walk down any of its narrow streets and you could enter banks from around the world; Moorgate has been nicknamed “the Avenue of the Americas”. London plays host to far more foreign banks than any other financial centre and had the biggest slice of the foreign-exchange market.

Shipping services have made a recent comeback; overseas earnings rose by a quarter between 2002 and 2004. London's 400 shipbroking firms match ships and cargoes in 50% of tanker chartering. And there has been a spectacular growth in legal services, which are vital in backing the work of a global financial centre. Over 200 foreign law firms have offices in London, which is also headquarters for three of the four largest firms in the world. Exports from Britain generated by international law firms are now three times higher than they were in 1995.

Financial firms cluster in London because they derive external economies of scale. By thronging together, they create large, liquid markets that drive down trading costs and reduce risks by allowing large deals to be handled.

There are further benefits from locating in the cluster. Firms, large and small, can call upon all the external services needed to put together a complex financial deal, such as advice from lawyers and accountants, or the use of specialist markets. This in turn creates a fertile environment for innovation to flourish—a vital attraction for a global financial centre.

Underpinning the hub is access to talent. Firms locating in London can tap into a huge specialist financial workforce drawn from both domestic and foreign sources. “It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Mr Boris. “If you want to be hired you go to where people will hire you: London is this magnet in Europe.”

[Ardent]

Canary Wharf

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/Jaeger1000/400.jpg?t=1189594727

Canary Wharf tenants include major banks, such as Credit Suisse, HSBC, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays, law firms such as Clifford Chance, as well as major news media and service firms, including Reuters, the Daily Mirror and the Naseba Group. It has some technology companies, too, including Infosys. It has also gained more tenants from the public sector including the Financial Services Authority and 2012 Olympic Games organisers LOCOG and the ODA.

Plans are well underway for Canary Wharf to more than double in size again. Planning permission has been granted for the Riverside South development of two towers designed by Richard Rogers Partnership (work began in April 2007) and in 2006 the company announced that State Street Corporation, KPMG, and Bear Stearns had signed deals to move to new HQ buildings on the estate. The new State Street, Bear Stearns and KPMG Headquarters buildings are currently under construction with work expected to complete in 2009.

The number of people working in Canary Wharf (90,302 - End of 2006) is set to rise to 100,000 by 2009 (CWG estimate) and to 200,000 by 2025 (according to the Mayor's London Plan and DCLG's Thames Gateway Interim Development Plan).

Canary Wharf

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/Rubenfield1000/320.jpg

[Ardent]

City of London - 'Square Mile'

If you want to see more 'City of London' pics - I have an SSC Thread

here - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=521967


http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee240/Pullman1000/2001.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/Jaeger1000/317.jpg?t=1189543750

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/26.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/15.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/3.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/4.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/39.jpg


London Stock Exchange - Paternoster Square

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/Goddard1000/54.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc194/Aspinal1000/2009.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc194/Aspinal1000/2011.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc194/Aspinal1000/2015.jpg

[bnk]

http://www.domain-b.com/investments/markets/world_markets/20070713_largest.htm

World's largest exchange is born as Chicago Board of Trade - Chicago Mercantile Exchange merge

13 July 2007
Mumbai: Shareholders for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) have approved plans to join forces with longtime rival, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME, also called Merc), in an $11.9 billion deal. (See: CME bids $11.5 billion for CBOT v/s ICE's offer of $11.4 billion)
The merger creates the world's largest exchange…

[MIAMISKYLINE]

All the pictures don't change the fact that NYC's financial industry is more important than London's and always will be. And stop deleting my posts.

nEW yORK IS nEW yORK. jUST AS sINATRA SAID BEFORE.:haha: :haha:

[Ardent]

All the pictures don't change the fact that NYC's financial industry is more important than London's and always will be. And stop deleting my posts.


You obviously have trouble reading.

Btw London is fast over taking NY.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/email/crd_newsletter11-06.html

[david23]

You obviously have trouble reading.

Btw London is fast over taking NY.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/email/crd_newsletter11-06.html

Not in the overall value of the financial industry, which is all that matters.
Sorry London.

[caltrane74]

Toronto while not on this list; is booming; we have new construction of 3.5 Million Sq feet and major new projects on the go, not seen since the greed filled 1980's.

Toronto is providing the financing of construction projects across Canada which will deliver raw energy(oil) and raw Materials (base metals) the rest of the world ( China and USA ) can't get enough of.

[Ardent]

Not in the overall value of the financial industry, which is all that matters.
Sorry London.

What values this then, you are talking utter nonesense, London manages more money than New York and the next top three American Financial Centres put together.

It's Stock Exchange is massive, it trades more currency and derivatives than NY and Tokyo put together. London is home to the biggest Insurance and Assuance Market in the world, London trades 70% of Eurobonds, 40% of global equity, lends 20% of all international money (the largest amount on earth), 43% of all Global Derivatives are traded in London every day ($650 Billion Daily), London has thae largest Foreign Exchange Market in the World with a Daily turnover of $504 billion, London is home to 550 major Foreign Banks more then any other city on earth more than twice NY, London manages the third largest pension fund in the world, London is becoming a major magnet for Hedge Funds and London is European HQ to 75% of all major Global Companies.

There is no bigger financial player than London and that includes NY.

[Ardent]

Not in the overall value of the financial industry, which is all that matters.
Sorry London.

Btw the overall financial value on that chart only covers one square mile of London and neglects the other 608 Square Miles that make up Greater London, including the West End
and Canary Wharf.

To give you an idea of how small, the area it covers is, it's home to 9000 people, out of London's population of 7.78 million.



London as a financial centre

London is the banking centre of the world and Europe’s main business centre.

The London foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with an average daily turnover of $504 billion, more than the New York and Tokyo combined.

Along with The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development there are more than 550 international banks and 170 global securities houses have set up offices in London. By contrast Frankfurt has around 280, Paris, 270 and New York 250.


Trading

London is the biggest market in the world for derivatives traded over-the-counter with 36 per cent of global turnover. The capital is the world’s largest fund management centre, managing almost half of Europe’s institutional equity capital worth $5,500 billion. More than half (56 per cent) of the global foreign equity market and seventy per cent of Eurobonds are traded in London.

The most international of all stock exchanges, the London Stock Exchange has built on more than 200 years of integrity, expertise and market knowledge to become one of the world's foremost equity exchanges. Investors the world over trust the London Stock Exchange to deliver well-regulated, high quality markets.

The London Stock Exchange operates in four core areas:

Equity markets - they enable companies from around the world to raise the capital they need to grow, by listing securities on their highly-efficient, transparent and well-regulated markets.

They do this through their two primary markets – the Main Market and AIM (Alternative Investment Market). AIM is the London Stock Exchanges' market for small, young and growing companies.

Trading services - they provide the trading platforms used by broking firms around the world to buy and sell securities in equity, bond and derivative markets.

Market information - they supply high-quality, real-time prices, news and other information to the global financial community.

Derivatives - their derivatives business is a pioneering diversification beyond their core equity markets. EDX London is their international equity derivatives.

The London Stock Exchange, like the Bank of England, transferred its role as regulator to the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Euronext.liffe is the world’s leading exchange for euro short-term interest rate derivatives and equity options. The Exchange (formerly the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange) is the international derivatives business of Euronext, comprising the Amsterdam, Brussels, LIFFE, Lisbon and Paris derivatives markets.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) is the world centre for non-ferrous (non-iron) metal trading, providing the global forum for all those who wish to manage the risk of future price movements in non-ferrous metals.

Insurance

London is the world’s largest international insurance market.

Lloyd's of London is the world's leading insurance market providing specialist insurance services to businesses in over 189 countries. At the beginning of 2004, 66 syndicates were underwriting insurance at Lloyd's, with a capacity to accept insurance premiums of £14.9 billion.

The International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) is the world's largest representative organisation for wholesale insurance and reinsurance companies.

Maritime centre

London is the world's principal centre for a wide variety of maritime industries

Many international shipping organisations have their headquarters in London, including the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

The Baltic Exchange is the only established and self-regulated global market place for shipbrokers. It provides an online exchange for ships and cargoes, real time freight derivative trading and freight market data.

Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit provides immediate business critical information and serves the needs of the global shipping market by supplying a source of shipping data from any world-wide location.

[Minato Ku]

Toronto while not on this list; is booming; we have new construction of 3.5 Million Sq feet and major new projects on the go, not seen since the greed filled 1980's.
.

That's the life, in Paris we have 17 million sq feet of office u/c but everyone think that we are a museum city :yes:

[SHiRO]

That'll be all...