Financial Action Flees to London

Wall Street’s position as the center of the financial universe—unchallenged for more than a century—is under serious threat from the City of London, according to John Gapper. London is catching up with Gotham in bond trading, already ahead in derivatives and the place to be for really big cap IPOs.

For the first time Goldman Sachs is now doing as much business off Wall Street—mostly in London—as on it. "Virtually all of our businesses are growing faster outside the U.S. than within," says Goldman’s CFO David Viniar. Among the reasons: post-9/11, the U.S. is more of a hassle for foreign business types to enter. (More Goldman Sachs stories.)