International financial centres have come to represent a major economic stake. Indeed, the advantages that they bring, especially in terms of jobs, incomes and wealth concentration, to the countries and cities that host them seem highly desirable – even though they come at a price, the most visible to date being the strengthening of inequalities. Such benefits apply above all to the most important centres: New York and London, or even Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, to name but the leading ones. However, there are far from insignificant benefits for the numerous secondary centres in developed countries confronted with the competition and challenges of the post-industrial era, or for those in emerging economies to which they offer further prospects of enrichment and development.

The extent to which defending and promoting these centres has reached today reflects the importance of these stakes, which are far from solely the concern of pressure groups from the financial sector. Politicians also enter the fray whenever national interests are concerned. Has the British chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, not provided the best example of this by making the preservation of the City's international competitiveness one of the five conditions for the pound sterling's entry into the European Monetary Union?

These stakes are also mirrored in the increasing number of publications devoted to this subject over the last twenty years or so.