Shanghai as an international financial centre

In 1949 Shanghai was the leading international financial centre (IFC) in Asia. Recently the push of Shanghai to regain its long lost status of a regional IFC has begun to attract widespread interest. This paper first draws upon the IFC literature to derive the factors that are considered to be important in determining the potential of a city to emerge as an IFC. Shanghai's progress is then measured against these criteria and is also placed in a comparative perspective by measuring against Hong Kong and Singapore. The findings relating to Shanghai's strengths and weaknesses, along with implications for Hong Kong and Singapore, are discussed.