London no longer world’s finance capital by 2015?

London stands to lose its title as leading global center for high finance by 2015 as rival hubs such as New York and Hong Kong will push beleaguered city into third place, a study by Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) forecasted. Job cuts and falling bonuses have hit the London as the UK economy struggled amid sustained and subdued global growth, particularly for its main export partners: the US and Europe. The explosion of jobs in the next 3 years in the Far East, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, will further dampen London’s bankers, whom CEBR predicts will have combined bonus pools likely slipping to £4.4 billion this year, down from £6.75 billion for 2011. The number of people employed in the financial sector in London, excluding most accountants and lawyers, has sunk below 250,000 this year. At its peak, London employed more than 350,000 people before the financial crisis struck.


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