[ccebook.cn]The World in 2010

Asia now accounts for five of the world’s top ten financial centres. Of these, Shanghai’s rise is perhaps the
most remarkable: its Pudong financial district is expected to accommodate a workforce of 200,000 in 2010.
Financial centres in emerging markets now have an exceptional opportunity to strengthen their position,
whether as regional hubs, like Singapore, or as global specialists, like Dubai in Islamic financing. It is certain
that some cities will join London and New York as truly global centres within a generation.
The scale of current demographic trends can be difficult to absorb. By some estimates, China’s middle class is
now larger than the entire population of the United States. Meanwhile, India is adding 10m new mobile-phone
subscriptions every month, with the total about to reach half a billion.
A well-functioning financial sector will be a sine qua non for any developing economy. As a result, we can
expect the world’s financial map to be redrawn. Its centre of gravity will move east and south like that of the
economy as a whole. For those institutions and financial centres that are able to think globally, the
opportunities will be unprecedented.
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
-169-