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A financial centre (financial center) is a global city that is a company and business hub, as well as being home to many world famous banks and stock exchanges.

Financial centres have existed throughout history in ancient centers such as Babylon and Constantinople. At present, the five main financial centers are London, New York City, Zurich, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Additional financial centers include: Cayman Islands, Frankfurt, Chicago, Paris, Shanghai and Singapore. One of the most commonly accepted standard to determine how a city is ranked as a finanical centre is the Global Financial Centers Indexby City of London Corporation, which is updated annually.

“Financial centres are where market liquidity is and market liquidity is very hard to move. Nobody can move liquidity unilaterally and so once a global centre such as London or New York has been established it is virtually impossible to move. It will take a number of significant factors, acting over a number of years to alter the status quo now that it has been established.” (Head of Trading, London-based investment bank)

• London is one of the three leading world financial centres. It is famous for its banks and Europe's largest stock exchange, that have been established over hundreds of years (e.g. Lloyd's of London, London Stock Exchange). The financial market of London is also commonly referred to as the City. It has historically been situated around the part of London called Square Mile, but in the 1980's and 1990's a large part of the City of London's wholesale financial services relocated to Canary Wharf.

• Frankfurt plays a major role in German economics, and is famous for its tall skyscrapers and world-wide businesses (e.g. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank). Frankfurt is also home to the European Central Bank.

• Zurich is well known for its banks.
• Geneva is home of the World Trade Organization.
• Basel is home to the Bank for International Settlements.

• Paris is home to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

• Qatar Financial Centre