London vs. New York

Although less argument occurs now than in 1920 as to whether New York has supplanted London as the financial centre of the world, nevertheless the rivalry of the two great financial capitals is today even keener than three years ago. Particularly is this seen in the flotation of foreign government loans, a work in which London was formerly supreme, but in which Wall Street is now proving a challenging competitor. Last week, the two centres competed directly for the flotation of the new $20,000,000 Norwegian loan. New York won, just as she did in the struggle for the recent $20,000,000 Swiss loan. The Austrian loan was shared between London, New York, Paris and other centres. New issues from Argentina, Canada, Czecho-Slovakia, Yugo-Slavia and several South American nations are anticipated this Fall, and only the Canadian issue is expected to be handled in London.

The preference for New York arises from the superior international value of dollars over pounds sterling. On the other hand, interest rates in the British capital have until recently been lower than in New York.

In respect to financing foreign trade, London is incontestably more influential than New York, and promises to remain so, even though from the international standpoint Great Britain has not yet replaced her currency on a genuine gold basis.