DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF FINANCIAL CENTERS IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE WORLD

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of financial centers reflects a historical sequence of economic transformation from trade and industry to finance and global integration. Based on Kindleberger’s model, this thesis outlines four main stages: the Commerce Stage, where finance serves trade and merchants; the Industry Stage, characterized by industrial banking and capital mobilization; the Transport Stage, marked by the centralization of banks through transport networks; and the Finance Stage, in which financial activities become autonomous and globally interconnected. Each stage demonstrates the expanding role of money from a medium of exchange to a store of value, unit of account, and standard of deferred payment. The study concludes that the rise of global financial centers such as London and New York embodies the culmination of economic specialization, efficiency, and information centralization in modern finance.