Although Russia did reasonably well to survive the global financial crisis of 2008, however the recent Bi-Annual ranking issued by a London based Research House has put Russia on 65th position out of the total 79 Financial Centre of the World. However, the Government is making consistent effort to establish Moscow as a Global Financial Centre. Below discussed are some of the positive and negative aspects relating to Moscow turning to be a Global Financial Centre:
i)Improvement in Infrastructural Facilities:
Since many years, Moscow was criticized for having poor infrastructure facilities in the form of high traffic and non-modernized buildings. However, now the city is transforming its infrastructure by building business centers and also overhauling its regulations so as to present an open face to the investors. One example is the building of Mercury City Tower, which at 75 stories is largest building in Europe. In addition, the city has also witnessed the construction of another international financial center in Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye on the western edge.
ii) Professional Transformation:
Another advantage of Moscow turning into a financial centre is professional transformation of the labor force. Russia has always known to hold professional talent in the financial industry, however, most of them are involved in short-term trading. Hence, with the establishment of Moscow as a leading financial centre, the labor force will witness professional transformation and will be able to work on long-term trading that is also an quintessential factor for a financial centre to be successful.
Disadvantages:
i) Delayed Development of the Financial Centre:
Although, Russian Government is sprawling its infrastructural base and is well supported by skilled finance professionals, however in order to be successful, the financial centre needs a whole range of other services such as Financial Technology, Legal Environment, Insurance Services and etcetera. Hence, while the government is planning to compete with London and New York that are conducting financial business in a regulated environment from more than 100 years, Moscow, on the other hand ha a small history of 20 years only and still lacks ancillary services required for proper development of the financial centre.
Thus, even though Moscow establishes itself as an active financial centre, we can expect the development to be delayed.
Works Cited
Panin, A. (2013, November 13). Moscow Strives to Make Itself a Global Financial Center. Retrieved October 21, 2014, from Moscow Times: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/moscow-strives-to-make-itself-a-global-financial-center/489504.html
