International Financial Centres Index

History

The Centre for International Finance (CIF) is an non-profit organisation that conducts research in the international financial system and conducts policy advisory and consultancy for governments and international organisations. It was founded in 1978 by economists and experts in the financial services sector. It began publishing an annual report that provided information to the general public on the performance of the global financial sector called the Financial Review. As the Financial Review grew in popularity and as global finance became increasingly interlinked, policymakers and public became increasingly interested in identifying and describing the impact of globally significant financial centres. This prompted the Editor of the Financial Review to introduce the index as ranking system for financial centres in 1987. This was prompted by the collision of many important international conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s that gave rise to several regional and global economic crises such as the Second Packilvanian Civil War, the Auroran Imperial War, and the Novaran Cold War.