“NO WAY, NO HOW . . . Aw, come on!” That was Rudi Giuliani’s reaction when it was suggested during the recent presidential debate that London might replace New York as the financial capital of the world. And he didn’t even know at the time that the Labour government of Gordon Brown was about to take dead aim at its own foot and make a major assault on London’s role as a leading financial centre. So Chuck Schumer, Hank Paulson, Mike Bloomberg, and others who worry that Wall Street is about to become of historical interest only can relax: New York’s financial lead ain’t goin’ anywhere.
This is not to deny that London has its attractions to the world’s financial players. It lives in a great time zone from which to do business around the world (but New Yorkers are better at getting up early and working late); has good theatres (featuring mostly musicals that ran in New York decades ago); and uses the universal language of business (a variant of the one spoken on Wall Street).
