The UK is the premier international insurance market. Asset management is likewise characterized by the presence of foreign portfolios; a quarter of the administered funds are the property of European or overseas customers or institutions. The June 2000 ranking of the financial consultancy firm Thomson Financial Investor Relations showed that with $2,500 billion of assets under management, London remains the number one market in the world.
London also represents the worldwide foreign exchange capital where about a third of currency transactions are carried out; in and of itself, this result represents more than the total amounts registered in New York and Tokyo on the same market.
Is London the finance capital of the world? Notwithstanding the ongoing internationalization of exchanges and the movement towards globalization, stock markets still remain anchored in their country of origin. Each stock market is overseen by one or more national authority within the framework of the national law; infractions are sanctioned by country-based tribunals. It is quite difficult to imagine the internationalization of such exchanges if applicable laws do not equally cross borders. It took a state to render orderly the exchanges of long ago; nowadays it would take at least an agreement between states to promote a global stock exchange. If not, the national regulator would just submit transactions to its own rules.