Reply #48: My guess is that NY loosing it's "World Financial Capital" might have

[54anickel]

him a bit concerned and looking for reasons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/business/worldbusiness/27london.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&adxnnlx=1161973202-GzwtzOwJJZolpgWV6+qX+g&oref=slogin

snip>

London, whose lord mayor, David Brewer, made the summertime boast at the city’s annual merchants and bankers dinner, has had a heady resurgence in banking and lending. In recent years, its stock market has attracted a growing number of companies that once would have sought to list in the United States. And London is drawing an increasing tide of hedge fund assets.

Other financial centers are growing, too: Chicago will be the home of the world’s largest derivatives market when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade merge, while Hong Kong is poised to be the biggest market for initial public offerings this year, with today’s pricing of the huge offering of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The possibility that New York is losing ground has raised alarms in Washington and in Mr. Bloomberg’s office.

“There’s a genuine recognition that we need to make some changes,” said Laure Aubuchon, head of international business development for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Winning financial business is “so important to New York City,” she said. The financial services industry makes up 9 percent of the city’s work force and provides 31 percent of the tax base, she said.

snip>

Beyond its location, London is attracting investors and companies because of a perception that regulatory scrutiny is more burdensome in the United States than in London. At the same time, while London does not use the euro, that common currency has helped bring depth to the capital markets of Europe, benefiting London.

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