The FCI 500 No.2 2011: the emerging people, and centres
A year is a long time in the life of the FCI 500 list. In the course of past year, since the first list was published in August 2010, there have been many changes in the standing of the list's members as those who follow the FCI 500 feature in each issue of Financial Centres International will know. These developments and changes in the influence of each member are driven by individual events, amongst them retirements, resignations, elections, promotions, even arrests and sadly deaths. But also a major factor that affects the standing of members is at what stage in the cycle the world of financial centres and finance is at. During the compilation of the inaugural FCI 500 list (2008 to 2010) the cycle was heavily affected by the great weight of the global financial crisis. The principal way this affected the composition of the list was in the prominence that needed to be accorded to ‘regulators’, as distinct from private sector practitioners , or ‘doers’, in the financial services industry.
And, while, frustratingly in many ways, we still remain mired in a heavily regulatory phase of the cycle, it is already clear, in advance of FCI 500 No 2, which we will publish in the Autumn, the dominance of regulators will be reduced in that second listing. And that is good news, and indeed a tribute to those most ‘influential’ (and ‘influential’ usually means ‘good’) of regulators themselves, whose efforts have contributed to this progress.
There have been major developments, only in the past month, at the top of the list we saw the promotion of our FCI 500 Number 1, last year, Governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi (left) as the head of the European Central Bank. In 2010, we accorded Draghi this position in recognition of his chairing the Financial Stability Board (formerly, the Financial Stability Forum) and now he finds himself in the eye of the storm, and in a position that can prove decisive, both for the future of the euro, Europe’s banking system, and, indeed for the entire global economy. He has his chance to make his mark on history, and let us hope that he can do so in emulation of other great central bankers, such as those who created the US Federal Reserve in the early years of the last century.
Also moving in the list was was our No 55 last year, Christine Lagarde (top right) appointed head of the IMF where the list’s No 4, Dominique Strauss Kahn, unfortunately found himself losing his job, but perhaps not ultimately to the detriment of his domestic political ambitions. Another financially literate political mover in the Lagarde mode noted in our list last year was Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who, as we write, has emerged as the joint leader on the Republican side amongst political hopefuls in the early stages of the US Presidential race for 2012.
Our special FCI 500 No 2 issue will also provide special focus for the leading international financial centres, and will itself reflect the success of individual centres in 2011 (see page 4).
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| Mario Draghi |
And, while, frustratingly in many ways, we still remain mired in a heavily regulatory phase of the cycle, it is already clear, in advance of FCI 500 No 2, which we will publish in the Autumn, the dominance of regulators will be reduced in that second listing. And that is good news, and indeed a tribute to those most ‘influential’ (and ‘influential’ usually means ‘good’) of regulators themselves, whose efforts have contributed to this progress.
There have been major developments, only in the past month, at the top of the list we saw the promotion of our FCI 500 Number 1, last year, Governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi (left) as the head of the European Central Bank. In 2010, we accorded Draghi this position in recognition of his chairing the Financial Stability Board (formerly, the Financial Stability Forum) and now he finds himself in the eye of the storm, and in a position that can prove decisive, both for the future of the euro, Europe’s banking system, and, indeed for the entire global economy. He has his chance to make his mark on history, and let us hope that he can do so in emulation of other great central bankers, such as those who created the US Federal Reserve in the early years of the last century.
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| Christine Lagarde |
Also moving in the list was was our No 55 last year, Christine Lagarde (top right) appointed head of the IMF where the list’s No 4, Dominique Strauss Kahn, unfortunately found himself losing his job, but perhaps not ultimately to the detriment of his domestic political ambitions. Another financially literate political mover in the Lagarde mode noted in our list last year was Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who, as we write, has emerged as the joint leader on the Republican side amongst political hopefuls in the early stages of the US Presidential race for 2012.
Our special FCI 500 No 2 issue will also provide special focus for the leading international financial centres, and will itself reflect the success of individual centres in 2011 (see page 4).