London Ranks Third On List Of Financial Powerhouses

London has lost it's lead as the world's financial capital, according to Bloomberg. In fact, we've been soundly trounced: in the quarterly poll of 1,500 investors and analysts, 29% said Wall Street would be the best place for financial services two years hence, with Singapore on 16% and London in third place on 15%, ahead of Shanghai on 11%.

Increased EU regulation, the new 50% top rate tax, and the outspoken opinions of FSA chief Lord Turner, who has called for an end to the "swollen City", are thought to be behind the switch. Yet the poll is somewhat contradicted by a recent World Economic Forum report that claimed Britain had overtaken the USA as the world's largest financial centre. Once again, the layman can ask: do any of these self-aggrandised experts have a clue what's going on?

Perhaps more significantly, respondents to the poll believe that China, Brazil, and India offer the best opportunities for making money, suggesting that the economic weights of the future will be bench-pressed not by New York or London, but by the emerging economies of Asia and the global south.