The European Union and the United States have strengthened their respective dominance in various financial markets, despite the destabilising effects of the financial downturn in 2008. In Europe these markets included international bank lending, foreign exchange turnover and insurance premiums. In the US it included foreign equity trading, equity market turnover and domestic bonds.
The findings come from the annual report, Financial Market Trends Europe vs. US from International Financial Services London (IFSL). This IFSL report brings together and compares the size of key financial markets in Europe with the US. It is based on annual data for 2008 with the impact of the financial crisis showing through in decline in many financial markets including a slump in net securitisation issuance and a sharp drop in investment banking revenue, equity market turnover and IPOs.
In nearly half of the indicators – eight out of 17 the size of financial markets in the US improved relative to those in Europe in 2008. In most cases this was because US markets declined by less than those in Europe. Europes position relative to the US improved in 6 markets with the relative position unchanged either way in 3.
Duncan McKenzie, Director of Economics at IFSL, said: Recent trends have been slightly less favourable for financial markets in Europe but, led by London as its financial capital, Europe has the opportunity to build on its cluster of expertise.
The full report can be found here here