Trending Content - Off Topic Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
June 30, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
London, Tokyo, in that order. Then, its probably Paris and Hong Kong/Shanghai/Beijing/Singapore. Not entirely sure where Dubai sits. If you're thinking Central/South America: Sao Paulo and Mexico City. If you're thinking Africa: Johannesburg and Lagos.
London is the obvious tie with NY.
HK is also a shout but quite heavily markets and capital markets. Same for Singapore.
Tokyo, Paris, Munich/Frankfurt and Toronto also have solid banking activity.
There's also Geneva/Zurich for private banking and commodities firms, Amsterdam and Dublin for prop shops. Sydney/Melbourne and Johannesburg has some banking activity as well.
Not sure about emerging markets or the middle east/rest of africa/south america.
Do you know where in Munich the business happens? I was there a few weeks ago and I'm walking around thinking, "There is not a single even moderately tall building here and I haven't seen one suit in 3 days." Then we went up to the Olympia Park observation tower (highly recommended - it's like $5 and a great view!) and I looked over all of Munich and confirmed they have no tall buildings. Couldn't make out any suits from up there either.
Ahaha good point.. I think though that it is nice to preserve a more 'traditional' city picture
As for your question most PE firms in Munich are on the Maximilianstraße / Odeonsplatz and the area close by. Very nice central location in (often) historic buildings
The only suits I saw were from BMW corporate. Fantastic tour of the factory and showroom
Europeans are flooding Frankfurt post-Brexit Edit: We went to dinner with a German couple who had just rented a new apartment (they call them flats - how cute!). They told us how they had gone to an open house for a rental in central Frankfurt and over 50 people came through in the half hour they were there.
As an aside, their apartment was on like the fourth floor and we walk past a door on the third floor on the way up that has some salon name written on it. I'm like, "What is that, a gym?" The chick was like, "No... that is where you can go and get... how do you say... a handjob." They've got interesting zoning over there.
Hilarious.
I would actually put London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong in roughly the same position as NY or maybe just very slightly lower.
Next comes Shanghai, Singapore, Toronto, Paris and Frankfurt.
All great suggestions from users above but language will be a major gating item to work in any of these financial centers (with obvious exception being London). For example in HK if you don't speak Mandarin, the chances of you landing a gig at a bank are slim to none unless you join a specialized group where language won't be an issue.
Mainland China speaks Mandarin. Hong Kong speaks English and Cantonese.
HK serves as a gateway to the mainland in terms of finance. OP is correct.
Response to Isaiah_53_5
You sir are an idiot and have obviously never worked or even been to Hong Kong.
Well, according to the GFCI is: 1. London 2. NYC 3. HK 4. Singapore 5. Tokyo 6. Shanghai 7. Toronto 8. San Francisco 9. Sydney 10. Boston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index
Surprised with the Cayman Islands on that list at 22? I always thought it was just a tax having with no 'real' activity there. I can imagine the weather and lifestyle there puts it quite high on the list.
Yh lad could be. From my pov I thought Chicago way higher, while SF lower.. Mmm
Very surprised Houston didn't make the list, especially since Calgary is on there. If we're talking energy, Houston has to at least outrank Calgary, no? And not that I have anything against Almaty, Kazakhstan, but if you're going to list them and not Houston...I mean come on man.
Surprised as well, I mean no Houston or Dallas FW in the US and no Perth in Australia where both are bigger commodities/energy financial centre in the world. Same, surprised that in EU Milan comes only at the very end of the ranking..
I too agree that it's strange that places like Houston and Dallas didn't make the list. I suspect that it may be because they are more focused or oriented towards a specific industry then some of the other top cities. It would be interesting to read through the criteria that they used to make these rankings.
Chicago.
In the U.S. I'd rank them 1. NYC 2. Chicago 3. San Francisco
I don't know enough about Boston or LA to rank them somewhere. I'd also throw out Charlotte as a major financial hub. Most other places mainly seem to be industry driven (Houston-Energy, Nashville-Healthcare etc.) or primarily regional.
Isn't Dallas growing more than Houston nowadays in terms of banking/funds and so on? Ain't he?
I passed through Houston airport today and saw this gem:
HW Bush 'Winds of Change'
hahaha amazing
![https://i0.wp.com/www.sandinmybag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/WP_201…]
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/alpha-beta-and-gamma-cities/
Take your pick.
In ab vitae explicabo earum. Quo similique sint labore iusto quis. Commodi facere omnis enim repellendus ut ea. Quaerat dolores aut sint eligendi et quia. Alias dolor dolorem iste similique.
Nihil ipsum quam velit alias quos aut sed. Dolore nemo natus ut ea aliquam aut consequatur sunt. Ab laboriosam est quo amet cumque.
Dolores excepturi error qui magni et. Quae qui at quaerat quidem ut atque perspiciatis cumque. Amet enim animi corporis id repellendus. Temporibus sint omnis quo nisi. Asperiores voluptatem perspiciatis maiores tempora est ab quia atque.
Est ea at voluptatem iste recusandae impedit commodi. Quam fuga consequatur veniam tempora optio. Velit quisquam et optio non non. Quia explicabo laudantium qui minus et sunt dolore. Est accusamus vitae mollitia aperiam qui aspernatur. Molestiae architecto deserunt ullam blanditiis vel quo voluptatibus.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Repudiandae rerum deleniti dolorem incidunt aut corrupti et. Sed quasi nihil excepturi autem saepe laborum. Officia omnis nostrum eum earum commodi accusamus dolorem ad. Autem quia esse vel sit possimus.