This document provides a summary of the book "Finance Masters" which traces the history of international financial centers over the past 1000 years. It discusses the early financial hubs that emerged in medieval Europe like the fairs of St. Giles in England and the fairs of Champaign in France in the 11th-12th centuries. It then covers the rise of cities like Florence, Venice, Antwerp, Genoa, Amsterdam, London, and New York as financial centers between the 11th-19th centuries as trade and dominance shifted between countries. The document concludes by looking at how technology and the emergence of new financial hubs in Asia and Africa may shape the future of international finance.

1. Modern Finance and Ancient Finance Masters
A Brief History of International Financial Centers
April 2017London WFC

2. Finance Masters is a brief history of International Financial
Centers since their emergence 1,000 years ago
« Finance Masters is an amazing journey in time to
better understand modern finance »
« This is also a major contribution on finance ethics »
Pr. Seamus Grimes, Emeritus Professor, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway
This presentation is a short overview of the Finance
Masters book which has been released in
Singapore (Oct. 2016) by Olivier Coispeau and
published by World Scientific
Page 2
The book can be found in the following university libraries (source OCLC) :

3. After the early fairs of St Giles, the French fairs of
Champaign became the first finance hub of the Middle Ages
Comments :
• In the 11th century, the fair of St. Giles
(England) became the largest in Europe
• It fostered both a large trading and
international financial businessinternational financial business
• As such, it is known as the ancestor of
International Financial Centers (IFCs)
• Then the fairs of Champaign (France)
became its most illustrious successor
• In the 12th century, those fairs attracted
merchants all over Europe and became the
main mart for international trade
Page 3
Source: Résumé de l’histoire de Champagne (19th century)

4. Medieval Florentine and Jewish money changers attending
large fairs laid the foundation of modern finance
“On one side the peasantry living almost secluded in their village, [ … ], on the
other side an emerging market economy inventing our modern economy”
Fernand Braudel
The Dynamic of Capitalism Page 4

5. Florence financiers acted all over Europe as a ferment of the
Commercial Revolution
Comments :
• The end of the 11th century brought a slight
resurgence of business in Italian cities
• Florence managed to assert its mastery of
financial techniques related to tradefinancial techniques related to trade
• The Florin, a new gold coin minted in
1252 brought an immense prestige
• Florentine money changers could be
seen on the fairs all over Europe
• Beside politics the Medici family was
deeply involved in trading and usury
• Florence never became a financial hub since
it was more busy with arts and politicsSource: Florence in a 1493 woodcut from Hartmann Schedel's
Nuremberg Chronicle
Page 5

6. The Church was actively involved in temporal matters and
prohibited lending money with an interest as usury
“Although lending money with an interest was generally prohibited as usurious the
conversion of debt in various currencies managed to create significant profits for both
lenders and money changers ”
Finance Masters Page 6

7. In the 10-11th century, Venice became the first real
international financial centre (IFC) from a modern perspective
“The Ducat was named after the Doge of Venice, the “louis d’or” after king Louis of
France” both were instruments of sovereignty
Charles P. Kindleberger
A financial history of Western Europe
Page 7
Source: Giovani Bellini (National Gallery)

8. The Lagoon City established a trading dominance on sea
and in mastering the most advanced financial instruments
“Venice as a state city was not only in a capacity to trade but also to make war as needed”
Finance Masters
Page 8
Source: Tintoretto, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum Source: Hulton Archives

9. In 1405, about 6,200 nautical miles from Venice, an army of
shipbuilders was preparing China for its greatest sea adventure
Comments :
• The Great Ming armada was preparing
for its seven diplomatic journeys under
the command of admiral Zheng He
• He visited 37 countries through SEA to• He visited 37 countries through SEA to
Africa and Arabia
• The Great Fleet included 28,000 men
on 317 ships
• In spite of the Zheng He and Marco
Polo travels, both Western and Eastern
worlds would never trade directly
• But neither the feared galley fleet of
Venice nor the “Great Fleet” ever met
Source: Zheng He statue in Fuzhou (PRC)
Page 9

10. From 1500 to 1550, the loss of Venice domination turned the
wheel, Antwerp emerged as a world class finance centre
Comments :
• A dynamic financial Sephardic Jewish
community settled in Antwerp
• The Antwerp city opened a bourse in
15151515
• Portuguese merchants were active
in the port trading the New World gold
• In 1590s, the Antwerp money market
collapsed
• For almost 100 years, Antwerp had
remained the commercial capital of
Northern Europe
Source: Old map of Antwerp, Antwerp library
Page 10

11. Genoa, Venice arch-rival, was just waiting for its time in the
16th to become a successor world financial center to Antwerp
“On par with the Florence bankers in the 13th century, the bankers from the
Piazza De Ferrari were seen as the few people capable of mastering the best
finance techniques”
Finance Masters
Page 11

12. Genoa was supported by the Spanish Empire as its financial arm
to recycle the inflows from the New World, skipping Flanders
Comments :
• The genius of the Genoese finance was
to use silver inflows from the New
World to create a powerhouse
• The bank of Saint George was acting both as
a trading and reserve bank
• Genoese merchant bankers mastered
secured international money transfers
• Andrea Doria made the city state a satellite of
the Spanish empire and ended family feuds
• The suspension of Genoese funding to Spain
due to war was the signal of the city decline
Source: Bank of Saint George, Genoa
Page 12
“The Genoese system of international finance stands alone in history up until the present day as an
exemple of an International Financial Center”
David Scholey
CEO, S.G. Warburg

13. In 1588, the defeat of the Invincible Armada paved the way
for the English – Dutch dominance on international trade
Comments :
• After the Spanish conquered Antwerp
many Jewish merchants fled to
Amsterdam
• They established a strong business• They established a strong business
community and opened new routes (India)
• The Dutch East India Company (VOC)
was created in 1602
• The powerful bank of Amsterdam
began operations in 1609
• In 1610, the Amsterdam patricians
approved the plan of the 3 canals
to further extend the city
Source: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Page 13

14. As early as the 17th century, a large option market had
emerged in Amsterdam now the leading financial center
Comments :
• A first large scale bubble originated
from the 1636-37 Tulip mania
• The forward and option market provided all
the necessary backgroundthe necessary background
• The highest bid reached 20 times the
annual income of an honest craftsman
• In Haarlem, during a routine auction,
the highest bidder ran triggering panic
• Despite the scandal, this was of negligible
consequence on the real economy and
tenure of Amsterdam as an IFC
Source: Bollettino Telematico dell'Arte, Bibioteca Nazionale Centrale
di Roma
Page 14

15. Bankers started to relocate to London following the degradation of
the relationships between England and the Dutch Republic
“Gradually, the scale of English navy overtook the Dutch in the first half of the
18th century”
Finance Masters
Page 15
Source: John Cleveley the Elder, The Royal George at Deptford

16. John Law de Lauriston’s innovation ruined the ailing public finance
of France, leading to deep suspicion on the finance industry
Comments :
• In 1716, Law opened the Banque Générale and
financed the Mississippi investment scheme
• He convinced the French Regent, Philippe
d’Orléans that he could rescue and liquidate the
French public debt
“John Law de Lauriston is said to have mentioned to Victor Emmanuel II that he
had discovered the secret to turn paper into gold”
Finance Masters
Page 16
Source: Lorient, Museum of Compagnie des Indes
French public debt
• The Law “System” first produced positive results
but created a huge speculation bubble
• Law bankruptcy aggravated by Richard Cantillon’s
manipulations resulted in a huge financial crisis
• The whole French banking system was shaken
and it resulted in a massive lack of trust of savers

17. The competition for world finance and trade domination was
highlighted by the Dutch English naval wars (1652-1784)
Comments :
• In the 17th century, Britain had already built up
the largest overseas empire
• The British Honourable East India company
was rivaling the Dutch East India Companywas rivaling the Dutch East India Company
• Four naval wars were fought by Dutch and
English between1652 and 1784
• The Glorious Revolution of 1688 marked the
arrival of the house of Orange Nassau on the
throne of England
• Dutch financiers encouraged by the new King
William III exported many financial techniques
to England
Source: Boy’s book of battles by Eric Wood
Page 17

18. The Bank of England quickly outstripped the Amsterdamse
Wisselbank as a focal point for international payments
“The English market was based on the long term sovereign debt owed to a
government-chartered and supported joint stock company : primarily the Bank of
England, or alternatively the New East India Company”
Finance Masters Page 18

19. The Pax Britannica was a very auspicious time for the
development of England’s financial supremacy
Bankers portrait in London (H. Schroder, NM. Rothschild)
“After the Napoleonic wars, prominent bankers and merchants had fled Amsterdam and relocated to
London sometimes with the assistance of Dutch merchant-banks where they managed to emulate a
large, deep and liquid market”
Finance Masters
Page 19
Source: (left) : The Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions and politics

20. WWI was almost fatal to England financial dominance as the
intensive submarine warfare brought it to the brink of starvation
Comments :
• The unrestricted German submarine
warfare was designed to isolate and
starve England
• The Gold Standard did not survive the• The Gold Standard did not survive the
Great Depression
• London remained a key center for
shipping finance (broking, insurance)
• The aftermath of WWI shrank foreign
investment from 20% to 5 % of world
GDP before WWII
• After the great war, the US became at
naval parity with England
Source: Canadian War Museum
Page 20

21. 200 years after the Law crisis, the Russian debt repudiation
was to fester mistrust again in the French banking system
“Lending to Russia is like lending to France”. The repudiation of the debt by Lenin and the
Bolcheviks, was to create another immense trauma following the disaster of the Law experience
Finance Masters
Page 21

22. The takeover of world finance dominance by New York
started from the beginning of WWI
Comments :
• Tighter capital regulations in London at
the beginning of WWI, and
• The hardship suffered by the UK during
the war led to the emergence of NYCthe war led to the emergence of NYC
• NYC banking system (Fed in 1913) and
port were already firmly established
• The 1929 crisis rocked the US banking
system but NYC kept its dominance
• In 1941, despite the Pearl Harbour,
attack, Wall Street was back on its feet
Source: AP, Times Square near 42nd Street in New York City, in the 1920s.
Page 22

23. After the destructions of WWII, NYC finance was again key
for the reconstruction of Europe and led the “Cold War” effort
The American financial preeminence strengthened, it was supported by the new international
status of its currency. London managed to remain an important financial center.
Page 23
Source: Deutsche Fotothek, Dresden, Germany

24. To date, NYC has managed to withstand an impressive number
of economic storms
Comments :
• The “Great moderation” (1945-1975), was a
time of few banking failures
• NYC continued to show its resilience despite :
‒ 1980s. The savings and loans debacle
and the LTCM debacleand the LTCM debacle
‒ 2001. The Twin Towers terror attack
‒ 2007. The subprime crisis
• This stability is certainly the result of a better
understanding of economics and policy
• London regained its status as an IFC
Source: Didier Forray
Page 24
“Both the American and British system of international finance stand alone in history up until the
present day as an example of International Financial Center resilience”

25. As the first computers became available after WWII,
information technology changed the course of finance history
Critical IT infrastructures support the leading IFCs and in less than 50 years manned
trading floors have migrated to electronic platforms.
Page 25
Source: ENIAC US Army Source: SocGen, Boursorama

26. In the Pacific region, Tokyo’s dominance as an international
financial center accelerated after WWII
Comments :
• The success of the Dojima rice exchange
(est. 1715) illustrated a long tradition in
using complex financial instruments
• But Japan preferred to live a rather• But Japan preferred to live a rather
segregated life until 1853
• After the Meiji restoration (1868), Japan
established a national banking system
• The Japanese market started to deregulate
and opened up in the 1970s
• Tokyo is considered the major financial
center of the Pacific coast as of now
Source: Japan News
Page 26

27. Some contenders have already declared a formidable ambition to
become the reference international financial center in Asia
“The Chinese government’s State Council has announced a clear goal for
Shanghai to become an international financial center by 2020.”
Booz & Co.
Page 27
Source: China Daily

28. Tokyo already faces serious competition from the regional
finance hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong
“Singapore and Hong Kong have developed both prominent and world class financial
centers and continue to strengthen their positions”
Finance Masters
Page 28
Source: Strait Times Source: China South Morning Post

29. The emergence of an African IFC is expected in the 21st
century as the African economy gets traction
Comments :
• A regional financial hub will likely emerge in
Sub-Saharan Africa in the next decade
• The African banking system needs to
address the needs of its growingaddress the needs of its growing
population
• African population is expected to reach 1.5
bn by 2025 (UN) and 4.4 Bn in 2100
• South African and Nigerian banks have
started to build strong positions
• The training of a young, skilled and
motivated population will be decisive for
the location of the future African hub
Source: Johannesburg, South Africa
Page 29

30. Author’s Biography - Olivier Coispeau
Resume
• Olivier Coispeau, CFAF
• Co-Founder of Maverlinn Strategic Finance
• Strategy and Finance with leading
consulting practices and investment banks
Page 30
consulting practices and investment banks
• Taught economics at Paris-Sorbonne
university
• Frequently invited guest speaker to
international finance forums
• Education: Stanford University, Paris
Dauphine University and Sciences Po Paris

31. Leading a world of change, together