Financial Geography

Financial geography is concerned with the roles of finance, money, and markets in the restructuring of contemporary capitalism, and how these changes have uneven impacts across space. Studies focus on the ways in which space and place are mobilized in shaping financial decisions, allocation of capital, regulatory frameworks of global financial markets, and development of onshore and offshore financial centers. An early political economy approach to regulation of international financial markets is later complemented by more social and cultural explanations and network approaches for analyzing the persistence and increasing importance of international financial centers as strategic basing points for global capital. Scales of analyses range from global frameworks and national financial markets to industry processes and household behavior. While much of the financial geography literature has concentrated on Anglo-American economies, recent research highlights the increasing significance of emerging economies and financial networks such as sovereign wealth funds, Islamic finance, green finance, and FinTech

Playful finance: Gamification and intermediation in FinTech economies

This paper examines how digital gamification techniques, which incorporate video gaming elements (rather than full-fledged games) into apps, are reshaping the logics and practices of intermediation that are core to FinTech economies. First, we argue gamification brings into view socio-technical knowledges, such as behavioral science, digital marketing, and user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, which are increasingly important to constituting FinTech intermediation. Second, gamification features specialist firms that are presently overlooked by research into the roles of changing advanced producer services (APS) complexes in FinTech and financial intermediation. Third, gamified apps are deployed to advance competitive intermediary positions which playfully capture user attention and configure user behavior, contrasting with FinTech strategies that typically promise users’ ease of access, reduced transaction costs and personalized products and services. We illustrate these arguments through three firm-level case studies from across Asia, where the development of gamified FinTech apps has been especially prominent

Brexit and shifting geographies of financial centres in Asia

Brexit could have profound impacts on the global financial landscape, as the global economy and financial markets are increasingly inter-connected. London’s role as the top international financial centre in Europe could be threatened due to the uncertain consequences of Brexit. Therefore, the geographies of Asian financial centres might shift as a result of Brexit, since London plays a central role in the existing global financial centre networks and many Asian financial centres, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, have strong financial connections with London. On the one hand, how Asian financial centres are linked with London and other European financial centres is key to understanding the potential impacts of Brexit on them. On the other hand, the reactions to Brexit of Asian economies, in particular, China, will also influence the role of London as a financial centre

Approaches to 'markets': the development of Shanghai as an international financial centre

This thesis opens up the black box of ‘markets’ by scrutinising the process of market formation and examining its complexities in the context of Shanghai’s development as an international financial centre. The financial markets in Shanghai are framed, understood and acted upon differently by the Chinese local and central governments, regulatory institutions, local and foreign financial institutions and transnational interests. The construction of a financial centre in Shanghai is thus not only an outcome of its own historical context and development trajectory but also intrinsically bound up with the interests and decisions of other agencies acting across spatial scales and negotiated amidst conflicts of interests and power struggles. Based on empirical research that includes field observations of financial markets development in Shanghai, archival research and personal interviews conducted with local and foreign financial institutions, and Chinese government and regulatory officials in Shanghai (with some conducted in London), this study focuses on the banking sector, the securities market and strategies of foreign banks as they negotiate between the local regulatory environment and market conditions and the wider context of their global operations and strategies. I examine the relationship between state institutions and global finance capital in Shanghai and tease out how these different ‘framings’ of markets are played out in Shanghai. In doing so, I critically engage with the concept of ‘markets’ and ‘from-plan-to-market’ economy to expose its multiple identities and conceptualisations and the contested nature of the ‘marketisation’ process. I also analyse the factors contributing to Shanghai’s success, identify future challenges and highlight the complementary roles played by Shanghai as a ‘business and commercial centre’, Beijing as a ‘political centre’ and Hong Kong as an ‘offshore financial centre’

Approaches to 'markets': the development of Shanghai as an international financial centre

This thesis opens up the black box of ‘markets’ by scrutinising the process of market formation and examining its complexities in the context of Shanghai’s development as an international financial centre. The financial markets in Shanghai are framed, understood and acted upon differently by the Chinese local and central governments, regulatory institutions, local and foreign financial institutions and transnational interests. The construction of a financial centre in Shanghai is thus not only an outcome of its own historical context and development trajectory but also intrinsically bound up with the interests and decisions of other agencies acting across spatial scales and negotiated amidst conflicts of interests and power struggles. Based on empirical research that includes field observations of financial markets development in Shanghai, archival research and personal interviews conducted with local and foreign financial institutions, and Chinese government and regulatory officials in Shanghai (with some conducted in London), this study focuses on the banking sector, the securities market and strategies of foreign banks as they negotiate between the local regulatory environment and market conditions and the wider context of their global operations and strategies. I examine the relationship between state institutions and global finance capital in Shanghai and tease out how these different ‘framings’ of markets are played out in Shanghai. In doing so, I critically engage with the concept of ‘markets’ and ‘from-plan-to-market’ economy to expose its multiple identities and conceptualisations and the contested nature of the ‘marketisation’ process. I also analyse the factors contributing to Shanghai’s success, identify future challenges and highlight the complementary roles played by Shanghai as a ‘business and commercial centre’, Beijing as a ‘political centre’ and Hong Kong as an ‘offshore financial centre’

Agency, power, and state-firm relations in global financial networks

In response to Töpfer’s incisive critique of how current work on global production networks and global financial networks (GFNs) have been too firm-centric and reliant on neoliberal market framings, this commentary highlights three key points for developing a deeper conceptualization of the state in financial processes and networks. The first addresses the role of the state and inter-firm relations, the second deals with conceptualizations of power and agency, and the third is a call to go boldly beyond authoritarian capitalist regimes in moving toward a state-led conceptualization of GFNs