Tuesday 29 January 2008

Witty bits from what I learned in the UK (3) [Vorbe de duh din ce am învăţat în UK]

Q: By the time euro coins started to fill EU citizens' pockets (January 2002), many spelled the demise of London as the financial capital of Europe. Placed at he heart of the European Monetary Union and hosting the European Central Bank, the city of Frankfurt-am-Main was seen as the future New York of Europe. So why is it that, after six years, all those predictions turned out to be false?

A: Simply because the number of employees in financial services in London (retail and wholesale banking, audit and accountancy, consulting, brokerage, insurance, and so forth) is greater than the whole population of the German city.

Sheer size mattered this time, against all odds indicating that the financial center of gravity in Europe was very likely to move to Frakfurt. London has over 7,500,000 inhabitants (12-14 million in the metropolitan area), while Frankfurt only has over 660,000 people (out of a total of 5,800,000).

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/ Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

1 comment:

MunteanUK said...

It appears that London's title of 'financial capital of Europe' won't be challenged soon, even after two years of global economic crisis which keeps worsening:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8236112/Bankers-claim-Londons-advantages-outweigh-50pc-tax.html