As interest in financial markets intensifies, stimulated by the financial crisis of the early twenty-first century, this book aims to enrich our understanding of the workings and history of financial centres in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the determinants of their success and failure.The book brings together leading authorities in the field to examine the direction of international capital flows historically in light of the nature of the banking system, market organization, the regulatory framework, and contextual political and diplomatic factors. Contributions discuss competition, collaboration, withdrawal, and re-emergence of financial centres in Europe, America, and Asia over the past two centuries.Written from a historical perspective but taking full account of recent studies in financial economics, the book, with contributions from leading international scholars, provides new research and approaches to a highly topical issue and sheds light on the recent financial crisis and its aftermath.