'The City' Gains Footing, Gingerly
Signs of a rebound are evident in the City, the British equivalent of Wall Street. But in the wake of the financial crisis, the global banking hub is smaller, somewhat chastened and still uncertain as to how new rules and regulations may affect its future.
In the past six months, the mood has brightened significantly here, mirroring similar rebounds in other financial centers like New York and Tokyo. There has been a rapid rise in bank profits, a return of fat compensation packages and an uptick in deal chatter. And, given the current easy-money environment, banks that have gotten through the worst of the crisis now find themselves coining money, particularly in the fixed-income, foreign-exchange and commodities markets.
'The recent economic crisis has had a significant impact on London. Jobs have been lost and businesses have been forced to downsize,' said Stuart Fraser, policy chairman at the City of London Corp. But, he added, with confidence returning to the U.K. capital 'there are significant grounds for optimism.'
The City of London remains a big player on the global financial scene -- and in some areas is the biggest. London accounts for 36% of global foreign-exchange trading: the next-biggest player, New York, is responsible for 14% of turnover, according to International Financial Services London, a private-sector group that promotes the U.K. financial industry. The City was the leading center for international bond issues, with 30% of the global total. And many financial firms are seeing business improve. Barclays PLC, the large British bank, last month reported a 10% rise in profits for the first half of 2009 compared with the year-earlier period, to GBP 1.9 billion ($3.1 billion).
The improvement in financial markets globally has provided a boost to the City's hedge-fund community, which generally is seeing performance recover and investors return after having headed for the exits in droves late last year.
Assets managed by U.K.-based managers stood at $295.77 billion as of the end of July, up about 12% from the end of December, according to , owned by Channel Capital Group Inc. However, they are still 34% lower than their $448.1 billion levels at the end of 2007.
Still, the revival of the City's fortunes owes a huge amount to temporary measures by the Bank of England and other central banks, which are providing billions upon billions of pounds of virtually free money to banks.
When those measures eventually go into reverse, so may profits.
And some people fear excessive zeal by regulators could seriously damage London as a financial center. They include Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who is arguing for a lighter touch on financial regulation, even as the leaders of his opposition Conservative Party are seeking a more vigorous clampdown.
作为英国的华尔街，伦敦金融城已浮现明显的回升迹象。在金融危机过后，这个全球银行业枢纽规模缩小了，变乖了，而且尚不清楚新的规定和监管会对其未来造成怎样的影响。
过去的6个月，金融城的气氛明显活跃起来，与纽约和东京等其他金融中心情形相仿。银行利润急剧增长，丰厚的薪酬计划卷土重来，交易传言日益增多。此外，考虑到目前宽松的信贷环境，渡过危机最糟糕阶段的各家银行目前发现他们财源茂盛，尤其是在固定收益、外汇和大宗商品市场。
伦敦金融城公司(City of London Corp.)董事长弗兰瑟(Stuart Fraser)表示，最近这场经济危机给伦敦造成了极大影响，导致工作岗位流失，迫使企业缩小规模。但他补充称，随着伦敦重拾信心，金融城有充足的理由对前景感到乐观。
伦敦金融城仍然是全球金融领域的一支重要力量──在一些领域仍是规模最大的。据推广英国金融行业的私营部门组织伦敦国际金融服务公司(International Financial Services, London)统计，伦敦占据了全球外汇交易成交量的36%，而排名第二的纽约所占比重为14%。伦敦金融城还是主要的国际债券发行中心，占据了全球发债总额的30%。很多金融公司的业务正在好转。英国最大的银行巴克莱(Barclays)上个月公布，今年上半年收益同比增长10%，达到19亿英镑（约合31亿美元）。
全球金融市场的复苏给伦敦金融城对冲基金行业带来了提振，金融城的对冲基金普遍业绩回升，而在去年年底蜂拥撤资之后，投资者已经开始回归。
据Channel Capital Group旗下跟踪对冲基金的网站统计，截至7月底，英国基金公司管理的资产总额为2,957.7亿美元，较去年12月底增长约12%。不过，目前的资产总额仍然较2007年底时的4,481亿美元减少了34%。
当然，金融城命运峰回路转很大程度上得益于英国央行和其他央行所采取的暂时性措施，这些央行不断向银行提供了数十亿英镑实际上免费的资金。
当这些措施最终结束的时候，或许银行利润也会随之下降。
一些人士担心，监管部门的过度狂热可能会严重损害到伦敦的金融中心地位。这些人中就包括伦敦市长鲍里斯•约翰逊(Boris Johnson)。约翰逊认为，金融监管应当采取柔性手段，虽然他所属的保守党领袖们正寻求对金融业施加更多的限制。