WAIFC, the World Alliance of International Financial Centers
The World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC) describes itself as "the leading global platform of international financial centers, as a catalyst for collaboration, fostering financial innovation, and cooperating with international organizations". It is a non-profit association registered in Brussels, Belgium.
Financial services leaders announced the alliance in Paris in July 2018, and it launched in Brussels on October 1, 2018. Its founding members came from financial centers such as Abu Dhabi, Casablanca, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Paris and Toronto. Today WAIFC represents about 30 financial centers on five continents.
What WAIFC does
WAIFC members are government agencies, associations and similar institutions that develop and promote their financial centers. The alliance helps them cooperate, exchange practices and speak to the public. It publishes reports and white papers on sustainable finance, AI, talent and the contribution of financial centers to their economies, and it runs expert workshops on fintech and climate action.
The members meet at an annual general meeting that includes awards and networking. Regional roundtables, among them an EU Roundtable and an Africa Roundtable, bring together the centers of one region. The Young Academic Award is WAIFC's program for young researchers. Reports, award calls and event news appear on waifc.finance.
Financial centers and how they are compared
A financial center is a city where banks, insurers, asset managers, exchanges and their supervisors cluster, so that capital, talent and services meet in one place. Most large centers have an organization that promotes them, such as Frankfurt Main Finance for Frankfurt, and these organizations are the kind of institution WAIFC brings together.
The most cited comparison is the Global Financial Centres Index by Z/Yen and the China Development Institute. Its 38th edition rated 120 centers from 28,549 assessments by 4,877 financial professionals plus statistical factors. New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and San Francisco took the first five places, and Frankfurt came 12th. The topics WAIFC works on, from sustainable finance to AI, are the ones that move centers up or down: the ESG reporting in Germany page and the hub answer on ESG cover one of them.
WAIFC and Finance Loop
WAIFC is an event and network partner of Finance Loop and appears among the partner logos on the About page. Finance Loop thanked the World Alliance of International Financial Centers among its event and network partners in its first-year review. Dr. Jochen Biedermann, Managing Director of WAIFC since 2018, is a member of the Finance Loop Advisory Board.
What is WAIFC?
WAIFC is the World Alliance of International Financial Centers, a non-profit association registered in Brussels. Its members are the promotion agencies and associations of about 30 financial centers, and it helps them cooperate and exchange practices.
Who are the members of WAIFC?
The members are government agencies, associations and similar institutions that promote a financial center, one or more per city. The founding members of 2018 represented Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Busan, Casablanca, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Muscat, Astana, Paris and Toronto, among others. The current list is on waifc.finance.
Who leads WAIFC?
Dr. Jochen Biedermann has been Managing Director of WAIFC since 2018. He holds a Master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Goettingen and a Ph.D. in mathematics, is Managing Partner of FinTech Consult and has lectured at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management for more than two decades. His profile lists his other roles.
What is an international financial center?
An international financial center is a city whose banks, markets and service firms serve clients far beyond its own country. London, New York and Singapore are the classic examples. In the euro area, Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank and ranks as the top EU center in the Global Financial Centres Index; the page on Finanzplatz Frankfurt am Main covers its institutions.
WAIFC and Finance Loop
WAIFC is one of Finance Loop's event and network partners, and its Managing Director Dr. Jochen Biedermann sits on the Finance Loop Advisory Board. Financial centers compete on the topics of Finance Loop's three tracks, and Finance Loop events are where people from these centers meet in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, and Risk & Compliance.