Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works such as residences, institutional buildings, roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems, pipelines, and railways.[1][2] Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering,[3] and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering.[4] Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.
History
Civil engineering as a discipline
Civil engineering is the application of physical and scientific principles for solving the problems of society, and its history is intricately linked to advances in the understanding of physics and mathematics throughout history. Because civil engineering is a wide-ranging profession, including several specialized sub-disciplines, its history is linked to knowledge of structures, materials science, geography, geology, soils, hydrology, environment, mechanics and other fields.
Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom supplanted by advances. Structures, roads, and infrastructure that existed were repetitive, and increases in scale were incremental.[5]
One of the earliest examples of a scientific approach to physical and mathematical problems applicable to civil engineering is the work of Archimedes in the 3rd century BC, including Archimedes Principle, which underpins our understanding of buoyancy, and practical solutions such as Archimedes' screw. Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, used arithmetic in the 7th century AD, based on Hindu-Arabic numerals, for excavation (volume) computations.[6]
Civil engineering profession

Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence. The earliest practice of civil engineering may have commenced between 4000 and 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization, and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) when humans started to abandon a nomadic existence, creating a need for the construction of shelter. During this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the development of the wheel and sailing.
Until modern times there was no clear distinction between civil engineering and architecture, and the term engineer and architect were mainly geographical variations referring to the same occupation, and often used interchangeably.[7] The construction of pyramids in Egypt (circa 2700–2500 BC) were some of the first instances of large structure constructions. Other ancient historic civil engineering constructions include the Qanat water management system (the oldest is older than 3000 years and longer than 71km,[8]) the Parthenon by Iktinos in Ancient Greece (447–438 BC), the Appian Way by Roman engineers (c. 312 BC), the Great Wall of China by General Meng T'ien under orders from Ch'in Emperor Shih Huang Ti (c. 220 BC)[9] and the stupas constructed in ancient Sri Lanka like the Jetavanaramaya and the extensive irrigation works in Anuradhapura. The Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams and roads.

In the 18th century, the term civil engineering was coined to incorporate all things civilian as opposed to military engineering.[4] The first self-proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the Eddystone Lighthouse.[3][9] In 1771 Smeaton and some of his colleagues formed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a group of leaders of the profession who met informally over dinner. Though there was evidence of some technical meetings, it was little more than a social society.In 1818 the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London,[10] and in 1820 the eminent engineer Thomas Telford became its first president. The institution received a Royal Charter in 1828, formally recognising civil engineering as a profession. Its charter defined civil engineering as:the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic in states, both for external and internal trade, as applied in the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks for internal intercourse and exchange, and in the construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power for the purposes of commerce, and in the construction and application of machinery, and in the drainage of cities and towns.[11]

Civil engineering education
The first private college to teach civil engineering in the United States was Norwich University, founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge.[12] The first degree in civil engineering in the United States was awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835.[13][14] The first such degree to be awarded to a woman was granted by Cornell University to Nora Stanton Blatch in 1905.[15]
In the UK during the early 19th century, the division between civil engineering and military engineering (served by the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich), coupled with the demands of the Industrial Revolution, spawned new engineering education initiatives: the Class of Civil Engineering and Mining was founded at King's College London in 1838, mainly as a response to the growth of the railway system and the need for more qualified engineers, the private College for Civil Engineers in Putney was established in 1839, and the UK's first Chair of Engineering was established at the University of Glasgow in 1840.
Education
Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering. The length of study is three to five years, and the completed degree is designated as a bachelor of technology, or a bachelor of engineering. The curriculum generally includes classes in physics, mathematics, project management, design and specific topics in civil engineering. After taking basic courses in most sub-disciplines of civil engineering, they move onto specialize in one or more sub-disciplines at advanced levels. While an undergraduate degree (BEng/BSc) normally provides successful students with industry-accredited qualification, some academic institutions offer post-graduate degrees (MEng/MSc), which allow students to further specialize in their particular area of interest.[16]
Practicing engineers
In most countries, a bachelor's degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certification, and a professional body certifies the degree program. After completing a certified degree program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements (including work experience and exam requirements) before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated as a professional engineer (in the United States, Canada and South Africa), a chartered engineer (in most Commonwealth countries), a chartered professional engineer (in Australia and New Zealand), or a European engineer (in most countries of the European Union). There are international agreements between relevant professional bodies to allow engineers to practice across national borders.
The benefits of certification vary depending upon location. For example, in the United States and Canada, "only a licensed professional engineer may prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and drawings to a public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for public and private clients."[17] This requirement is enforced under provincial law such as the Engineers Act in Quebec.[18]
No such legislation has been enacted in other countries including the United Kingdom. In Australia, state licensing of engineers is limited to the state of Queensland. Almost all certifying bodies maintain a code of ethics which all members must abide by.[19]
Engineers must obey contract law in their contractual relationships with other parties. In cases where an engineer's work fails, they may be subject to the law of tort of negligence, and in extreme cases, criminal charges.[20] An engineer's work must also comply with numerous other rules and regulations such as building codes and environmental law.
Sub-disciplines

There are a number of sub-disciplines within the broad field of civil engineering. General civil engineers work closely with surveyors and specialized civil engineers to design grading, drainage, pavement, water supply, sewer service, dams, electric and communications supply. General civil engineering is also referred to as site engineering, a branch of civil engineering that primarily focuses on converting a tract of land from one usage to another. Site engineers spend time visiting project sites, meeting with stakeholders, and preparing construction plans. Civil engineers apply the principles of geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, environmental engineering, transportation engineering and construction engineering to residential, commercial, industrial and public works projects of all sizes and levels of construction.
Coastal engineering

Coastal engineering is concerned with managing coastal areas. In some jurisdictions, the terms sea defense and coastal protection mean defense against flooding and erosion, respectively. The term coastal defense is the more traditional term, but coastal management has become more popular as the field has expanded to techniques that allow erosion to claim land.
Construction engineering

Construction engineering involves planning and execution, transportation of materials, site development based on hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineering. As construction firms tend to have higher business risk than other types of civil engineering firms do, construction engineers often engage in more business-like transactions, for example, drafting and reviewing contracts, evaluating logistical operations, and monitoring prices of supplies.
Earthquake engineering

Earthquake engineering involves designing structures to withstand hazardous earthquake exposures. Earthquake engineering is a sub-discipline of structural engineering. The main objectives of earthquake engineering are[21] to understand interaction of structures on the shaky ground; foresee the consequences of possible earthquakes; and design, construct and maintain structures to perform at earthquake in compliance with building codes.
Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary engineering, though sanitary engineering traditionally had not included much of the hazardous waste management and environmental remediation work covered by environmental engineering. Public health engineering and environmental health engineering are other terms being used.
Environmental engineering deals with treatment of chemical, biological, or thermal wastes, purification of water and air, and remediation of contaminated sites after waste disposal or accidental contamination. Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are pollutant transport, water purification, waste water treatment, air pollution, solid waste treatment, and hazardous waste management. Environmental engineers administer pollution reduction, green engineering, and industrial ecology. Environmental engineers also compile information on environmental consequences of proposed actions.
Forensic engineering

Forensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with retracing processes and procedures leading to accidents in operation of vehicles or machinery. The subject is applied most commonly in civil law cases, although it may be of use in criminal law cases. Generally the purpose of a Forensic engineering investigation is to locate cause or causes of failure with a view to improve performance or life of a component, or to assist a court in determining the facts of an accident. It can also involve investigation of intellectual property claims, especially patents.
Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical engineering studies rock and soil supporting civil engineering systems. Knowledge from the field of soil science, materials science, mechanics, and hydraulics is applied to safely and economically design foundations, retaining walls, and other structures. Environmental efforts to protect groundwater and safely maintain landfills have spawned a new area of research called geoenvironmental engineering.[22][23]
Identification of soil properties presents challenges to geotechnical engineers. Boundary conditions are often well defined in other branches of civil engineering, but unlike steel or concrete, the material properties and behavior of soil are difficult to predict due to its variability and limitation on investigation. Furthermore, soil exhibits nonlinear (stress-dependent) strength, stiffness, and dilatancy (volume change associated with application of shear stress), making studying soil mechanics all the more difficult.[22] Geotechnical engineers frequently work with professional geologists and soil scientists.[24]
Materials science and engineering

Materials science is closely related to civil engineering. It studies fundamental characteristics of materials, and deals with ceramics such as concrete and mix asphalt concrete, strong metals such as aluminum and steel, and thermosetting polymers including polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and carbon fibers.
Materials engineering involves protection and prevention (paints and finishes). Alloying combines two types of metals to produce another metal with desired properties. It incorporates elements of applied physics and chemistry. With recent media attention on nanoscience and nanotechnology, materials engineering has been at the forefront of academic research. It is also an important part of forensic engineering and failure analysis.
Structural engineering

Structural engineering is concerned with the structural design and structural analysis of buildings, bridges, towers, flyovers (overpasses), tunnels, off shore structures like oil and gas fields in the sea, aerostructure and other structures. This involves identifying the loads which act upon a structure and the forces and stresses which arise within that structure due to those loads, and then designing the structure to successfully support and resist those loads. The loads can be self weight of the structures, other dead load, live loads, moving (wheel) load, wind load, earthquake load, load from temperature change etc. The structural engineer must design structures to be safe for their users and to successfully fulfill the function they are designed for (to be serviceable). Due to the nature of some loading conditions, sub-disciplines within structural engineering have emerged, including wind engineering and earthquake engineering.[25]
Design considerations will include strength, stiffness, and stability of the structure when subjected to loads which may be static, such as furniture or self-weight, or dynamic, such as wind, seismic, crowd or vehicle loads, or transitory, such as temporary construction loads or impact. Other considerations include cost, constructability, safety, aesthetics and sustainability.
Surveying

Surveying is the process by which a surveyor measures certain dimensions that occur on or near the surface of the Earth. Surveying equipment, such as levels and theodolites, are used for accurate measurement of angular deviation, horizontal, vertical and slope distances. With computerisation, electronic distance measurement (EDM), total stations, GPS surveying and laser scanning have to a large extent supplanted traditional instruments. Data collected by survey measurement is converted into a graphical representation of the Earth's surface in the form of a map. This information is then used by civil engineers, contractors and realtors to design from, build on, and trade, respectively. Elements of a structure must be sized and positioned in relation to each other and to site boundaries and adjacent structures. Although surveying is a distinct profession with separate qualifications and licensing arrangements, civil engineers are trained in the basics of surveying and mapping, as well as geographic information systems. Surveyors also lay out the routes of railways, tramway tracks, highways, roads, pipelines and streets as well as position other infrastructure, such as harbors, before construction.
Land surveying

In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth countries land surveying is considered to be a separate and distinct profession. Land surveyors are not considered to be engineers, and have their own professional associations and licensing requirements. The services of a licensed land surveyor are generally required for boundary surveys (to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description) and subdivision plans (a plot or map based on a survey of a parcel of land, with boundary lines drawn inside the larger parcel to indicate the creation of new boundary lines and roads), both of which are generally referred to as Cadastral surveying.
Construction surveying
Construction surveying is generally performed by specialised technicians. Unlike land surveyors, the resulting plan does not have legal status. Construction surveyors perform the following tasks:
Surveying existing conditions of the future work site, including topography, existing buildings and infrastructure, and underground infrastructure when possible;
"lay-out" or "setting-out": placing reference points and markers that will guide the construction of new structures such as roads or buildings;
Verifying the location of structures during construction;
As-Built surveying: a survey conducted at the end of the construction project to verify that the work authorized was completed to the specifications set on plans.
Transportation engineering
Transportation engineering is concerned with moving people and goods efficiently, safely, and in a manner conducive to a vibrant community. This involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining transportation infrastructure which includes streets, canals, highways, rail systems, airports, ports, and mass transit. It includes areas such as transportation design, transportation planning, traffic engineering, some aspects of urban engineering, queueing theory, pavement engineering, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), and infrastructure management.
Municipal or urban engineering

Municipal engineering is concerned with municipal infrastructure. This involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining streets, sidewalks, water supply networks, sewers, street lighting, municipal solid waste management and disposal, storage depots for various bulk materials used for maintenance and public works (salt, sand, etc.), public parks and cycling infrastructure. In the case of underground utility networks, it may also include the civil portion (conduits and access chambers) of the local distribution networks of electrical and telecommunications services. It can also include the optimizing of waste collection and bus service networks. Some of these disciplines overlap with other civil engineering specialties, however municipal engineering focuses on the coordination of these infrastructure networks and services, as they are often built simultaneously, and managed by the same municipal authority.  Municipal engineers may also design the site civil works for large buildings, industrial plants or campuses (i.e. access roads, parking lots, potable water supply, treatment or pretreatment of waste water, site drainage, etc.)
Water resources engineering

Water resources engineering is concerned with the collection and management of water (as a natural resource). As a discipline it therefore combines elements of hydrology, environmental science, meteorology, conservation, and resource management. This area of civil engineering relates to the prediction and management of both the quality and the quantity of water in both underground (aquifers) and above ground (lakes, rivers, and streams) resources. Water resource engineers analyze and model very small to very large areas of the earth to predict the amount and content of water as it flows into, through, or out of a facility. Although the actual design of the facility may be left to other engineers.
Hydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the design of pipelines, water supply network, drainage facilities (including bridges, dams, channels, culverts, levees, storm sewers), and canals. Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid pressure, fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and hydraulics, among others.
Civil engineering systems
Civil engineering systems is a discipline that promotes the use of systems thinking to manage complexity and change in civil engineering within its wider public context. It posits that the proper development of civil engineering infrastructure requires a holistic, coherent understanding of the relationships between all of the important factors that contribute to successful projects while at the same time emphasising the importance of attention to technical detail. Its purpose is to help integrate the entire civil engineering project life cycle from conception, through planning, designing, making, operating to decommissioning.[26][27]

See also

Architectural engineering
Civil engineering software
Engineering drawing
Glossary of civil engineering
Index of civil engineering articles
List of civil engineers
List of engineering branches
List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
Macro-engineering
Railway engineering
Site survey

Associations

American Society of Civil Engineers
Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Engineers Australia
European Federation of National Engineering Associations
International Federation of Consulting Engineers
Indian Geotechnical Society
Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Structural Engineers
Institute of Engineering (Nepal)
International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh
Institution of Engineers (India)
Institution of Engineers of Ireland
Institute of Transportation Engineers
Pakistan Engineering Council
Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers
Transportation Research Board

Further reading
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Library resources about
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The German Army (German: Deutsches Heer) is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). As of 23October2018, the German Army had a strength of 61,721 soldiers.[2]
History

BundeswehrBranches
(Teilstreitkräfte)HeerLuftwaffeMarineOrganisational areas
(Organisationsbereiche)Joint Medical ServiceJoint Support ServiceCyber and Information Space
Overview
A German Army, equipped, organized and trained following a single doctrine, and permanently unified under one command dates from 1871, and the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. From 1871 to 1919 the title Deutsches Heer (German Army) was the official name of the German land forces. Following the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German Empire the main  army was dissolved. From 1921 to 1935 the name of the German land forces was Reichsheer (Army of the Realm) and from 1935 to 1945 the name Heer was used. The Heer was one of two ground forces of the Third Reich during World War II, but unlike the Heer, the Waffen-SS was not a branch of the Wehrmacht, but was a combat force under the Nazi Party's own Schutzstaffel forces. The Heer was formally disbanded in August 1946.[3]
After World War II Germany was split into two sovereign states and both formed their own militaries: on 12 November 1955 the first recruits began their service in the West German Heer, while on 1 March 1956 the East German Landstreitkräfte der NVA (Land Forces of the National People's Army) were founded. During the Cold War the West German Army was fully integrated into NATOs command structure, while the Landstreitkräfte were part of the Warsaw Pact. Following the German reunification in 1990 the Landstreitkräfte were partially integrated into the German Army. Since then the German Army has been employed in peacekeeping operations worldwide and since 2002 also in combat operations in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
While the modern German army prefers to distance itself from the World War II era, it still retains certain uniform accessories from that era and before. For example, the iconic Stahlhelm remains in service, as do the arabesque general collar tab designs. Cufftitle designs used by elite units during World War II now appear on both cuffs. The German Army also continues to use the MG3, a machine gun that looks much like the MG42 used during World War II. The East German military used uniforms that were very similar to the WWII era army uniforms.
Founding of the Army

Following World War II the Allies dissolved the Wehrmacht with all its branches on 20 August 1946. However already one year after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in May 1949 and because of its increasing links with the West under German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, the Consultative Assembly of Europe began to consider the formation of a European Defence Community with German participation on 11 August 1950. Former high-ranking German Wehrmacht officers outlined in the Himmeroder memorandum a plan for a "German contingent in an international force for the defense of Western Europe." For the German land forces the memorandum envisioned the formation of a 250,000 strong army. The officers saw the need for the formation of twelve Panzer divisions and six corps staffs with accompanying Corps troops, as only armored divisions could muster a fighting force to throw back the numerically far superior forces of the Warsaw Pact.[4]
On 26 October 1950 Theodor Blank was appointed "officer of the Federal Chancellor for the Strengthening of Allied Troops questions". This Defence Ministry forerunner was known somewhat euphemistically as the Blank Office (Amt Blank), but explicitly used to prepare for the rearmament of West Germany (Wiederbewaffnung).[5] By March 1954 the Blank Office had finished plans for a new German army. Plans foresaw the formation of six infantry, four armoured, and two mechanised infantry divisions, as the German contribution to the defense of Western Europe in the framework of a European Defence Community.[4] On 8 February 1952 the Bundestag approved a German contribution to the defense of Western Europe and on 26 February 1954 the Basic Law of the Republic was amended with the insertion of an article regarding the defence of the sovereignty of the federal government.[6] Following a decision at the London Nine Power Conference of 28 September to 3 October 1954, Germany's entry into NATO effective from 9 May 1955 was accepted as a replacement for the failed European Defence Community plan. Afterwards the Blank Office was converted to the Defence Ministry and Theodor Blank became the first Defence Minister. The nucleus of army was the so-called V Branch of the Department of Defence. Subdivisions included were VA Leadership and Training, VB Organisation and VC Logistics.
The army saw itself explicitly not as a successor to the defeated Wehrmacht, but as in the traditions of the Prussian military reformers of 1807 to 1814 and the members of the military resistance during National Socialism; such as the officers which undertook the failed 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Nevertheless, for lack of alternatives the officer corps was made up largely of former Wehrmacht officers. The first Chief of the Army was the former Wehrmacht General der Panzertruppe Hans Rottiger, who had been involved in the drafting of the Himmeroder memorandum.
The official date of the founding of the army is 12 November 1955 when the first soldiers began their service in Andernach.[7] In 1956 the first troops set up seven training companies in Andernach and began the formation of schools and training centers. On 1 April 1957, the first conscripts arrived for service in the army. The first military organisations created were instructional battalions, officer schools, and the Army Academy, the forerunner to the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg.[6] In total of twelve armoured and infantry divisions were to be established by 1959, as planned in Army Structure I. To achieve this goal existing units were split approximately every six months. However the creation of all twelve divisions did not take place until 1965. At the end of 1958 the strength of the army was about 100,000 men. The army was equipped at first with American material, such as the M-47 Patton main battle tank. Three corps commands were formed beginning in 1957: the I Corps, II Corps, and the III Corps.
Also in 1957 the "Office for Territorial Defence" was established as the highest Territorial Army authority. The Office for Territorial Defence was under the direct command of the Federal Ministry of Defence and commanded the Territorial Army (Germany) (Territorialheer), a reserve formation. While the Heer along with the Marine and Luftwaffe were firmly integrated into the NATO Military Command Structure, the Territorialheer remained under national command. The main function of the Territorialheer was to maintain the operational freedom of NATO forces through providing rear area defence against saboteurs, enemy special forces, and the like. There were three Territorial Commands (Territorialkommandos), including North, South, and Schleswig-Holstein, and up to six Wehrbereichskommandos (WBKs), military regional commands.[8] By 1985 each of the WBKs had two Heimatschutzbrigades (HSBs, home defence brigades).

The development of Soviet tactical nuclear weapons required the development of a new Army structure even before Army Structure I was fully achieved. To minimize the effects of attacks with tactical nuclear weapons on massed forces, the 28,000 strong divisions of the Heer were broken up into smaller and more mobile brigades. These smaller units were also to be capable of self-sustainment on an atomic battlefield for several days, and to be capable of to move quickly from defense and to attack. The new armoured and mechanized brigades were capable of combined arms combat. Each division was composed of three brigades. The armoured brigades consisted of an armoured infantry battalion, two armoured battalions, an armoured artillery battalion and a supply battalion. The mechanized brigades consisted of a motorized infantry battalion, two mechanized infantry battalions, an armored battalion, a field artillery battalion and a supply battalion. The motorized brigades consisted of three motorized infantry battalions, an anti-tank battalion, a field artillery battalion and a supply battalion. The alpine brigades consisted of three alpine battalions, a mountain artillery battalion and a supply battalion. By 1959 the Heer consisted of 11 divisions of 27 brigades, four Panzer (armoured), four Panzergrenadier (mechanized), two Jäger (motorized), and one Gebirgsjäger (alpine).
At the end of the Cold War the German Army fielded 12 divisions with 38 brigades: six Panzer (armoured), four Panzergrenadier (mechanized), one Fallschirmjäger (airborne), and one Gebirgsjäger (alpine) division. Nine divisions were grouped into three corps: I German Corps as part of NATO's Northern Army Group, II German Corps and III German Corps as part of Central Army Group. The remaining three divisions were part of Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (6th Panzergrenadier Division) and NORTHAG's I Netherlands Corps (3rd Panzer Division), while 1st Fallschirmjäger Division was assigned in peacetime to II German Corps and doubled as general staff for the ACE Mobile Force (Land).
Post Cold War

After 1990, the Heer absorbed the Nationale Volksarmee, the armed forces of East Germany. The former East German forces were initially controlled by the Bundeswehr Command East under the command of Lieutenant General Jörg Schönbohm and disbanded on 30 June 1991.[9] In the aftermath of the merger, the German Army consisted of four Corps (including IV Corps at Potsdam in the former DDR) with a manpower of 360,000 men. It was continuously downsized from this point. In 1994 III Corps was reorganised as the German Army Forces Command. In 1996, the 25th Airborne Brigade was converted into a new command leading the Army's special forces, known as the Kommando Spezialkräfte.
The 2001 onwards restructuring of the German Army saw it move to a seven division structure – 5 mechanized (each with two mechanized brigades), 1 special forces, and one air assault.
In 2003, three Corps still existed, each including various combat formations and a maintenance brigade, as well as the I. German/Dutch Corps, a joint German-Netherlands organization, used to control in peacetime the 1st Panzer and 7th Panzer Divisions as well as Dutch formations. The 1st Panzer would have reported to the corps in wartime while the 7th would be posted to the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. II Corps was German in peacetime but would have exchanged a division with the V U.S. Corps in time of war (the 5th Panzer). The 5th Panzer was formally Division disbanded as of 30 June 2001. In peacetime it also commanded the 10th Panzer Division, which was allocated to Eurocorps and which parents the German half of the Franco-German Brigade. The 1st Mountain Division at Munich was also subordinate to this headquarters.
The IV Corps was headquartered at Potsdam in eastern Germany and controlled two Panzer-Grenadier Divisions, the 13th and 14th. The 14th Panzergrenadier Division also took control of units in Western Germany re-subordinated from the 6th Panzergrenadier Division when it lost its command function. It would have made up the German contribution to the Multinational Corps Northeast in time of war. IV Corps also used to have under its command the Military District Command I, the 1st Airmobile Brigade, and the Berlin Command (de:Standortkommando Berlin).
German Army today
All corps have now been disbanded or transferred to a multinational level such as Multinational Corps North East. IV Corps was reorganized and on 31 March 2002 became an overseas deployment command, the Einsatzführungskommando der Bundeswehr, like the British Permanent Joint Headquarters. An army reorganisation in recent years has seen the disbandment of the 13th Mechanized Infantry Division headquarters, a merge of the Airmobile Operations Division and Special Operations Division headquarters, the disbandment of the 1st Airmobile Brigade, and reshuffling of units between divisions. No heavy brigades were disbanded, but the two remaining heavy divisions command three rather than two brigades.
As of 28February2018 there were a total of 61,054 soldiers on active service in the German Army.[2] However, the quite unique German military branch of the Joint Support Service consists to a significant degree of Heeresuniformträger (army uniform wearing personnel).[10] This is also contributed to by the Joint Medical Service, which does have other solely-military-medical branch counterparts (such as in South Africa).
In accordance with EU working hour regulations, the regular work-week is 41 hours, although numerous exceptions exist for e.g. deployments in oversea missions, training exercises, emergencies, and similar military needs.[11]
Modern equipment

Leopard 2A6 main battle tank
PzH2000 self-propelled artillery
NH-90 transport helicopter

Structure and organisation

The German Army is commanded by the Inspector of the Army (Inspekteur des Heeres) based at the Army Command (Kommando Heer) in Strausberg near Berlin. The training centers are supervised by the Army Training Command in Leipzig.
The combat units of the army include two armoured divisions, one rapid forces division and the Franco-German Brigade, which is under direct supervision of the Army Command. Unlike other European armies such as neighbouring France, regiments are not a common form of organization and are thus rare in the German army. Battalions are directly subordinate to brigades or to divisions as divisional troops. German infantry battalions field 1,000 men, considerably larger than most NATO armies, i.e. twice the size of a US Army battalion.
 1. Panzerdivision in Oldenburg
Divisional troops
9th Armoured Demonstration Brigade in Munster
21st Panzer Brigade at Augustdorf
41st Mechanized Infantry Brigade Vorpommern in Neubrandenburg
43rd Mechanized Brigade in Havelte, (Royal Netherlands Army)
325th Artillery Demonstration Battalion
 10. Panzerdivision in Veitshöchheim
Divisional troops
12th Armoured Brigade Oberpfalz in Cham
23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade Bayern in Bad Reichenhall
37th Panzergrenadier Brigade at Frankenberg, Saxony
Deutsch-Französische Brigade (Franco-German Brigade) in Müllheim
131st Artillery Battalion
345th Artillery Demonstration Battalion
 Division Schnelle Kräfte (Rapid Forces Division) in Stadtallendorf
Divisional troops
Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) (Special Forces Command) in Calw
1st Airborne Brigade, in Saarlouis
11th Airmobile Brigade, in Schaarsbergen (Royal Netherlands Army)
10th Transport Helicopter Regiment
30th Transport Helicopter Regiment
36th Attack Helicopter Regiment
 German elements, Eurocorps HQ in Strasbourg (France)
Command Support Brigade
German elements in two permanent battalions and one staff company
 1 (German/Netherlands) Corps in Münster
German elements in two permanent battalions and one staff company
 Multinational Corps North East in Szczecin (Poland)
Fernmeldebataillon 610 (610th Signal Battalion)
German elements
  Zentrales Langzeitlager (Army Central Depot) in Herongen
  Zentrales Langzeitlager (Army Central Depot) in Pirmasens
 Zentraler Mobilmachungsstützpunkt  (Central Mobilisation Base) in Brück
Truppengattungen
The German Army has eleven different branches of troops, designated as Truppengattungen. Each Truppengattung is responsible for training and readiness of its units and disposes of its own schools and centres of excellence for doing so.
Optically this distinction can be made by the branch colour, called Waffenfarbe which is displayed by a cord attached to the rank insignia, and the colour of their beret with a specific badge attached to it.
Beret Colour (Army only and Security Units of Navy and Air Force)
Black: Armoured Corps, Reconnaissance Corps
Green: Mechanized Infantry and Rifles Corps
Dark Red: Aviation Corps, Airborne Corps, Special Forces, formations assigned to airborne division
Light Red: Combat Support Corps and Military Police
Dark Blue: Medical Corps
Navy Blue: Multinational Units, Officer Cadet Battalions, Navy and Air Force Security Units
Bright Blue: Troops with United Nations Missions
Grey mountain cap (Bergmütze): Mountain Troops Gebirgsjäger
Waffenfarbe (Army and army support branch only)

NBC
Artillery
Military Police
Signals
Reconnaissance
Army Aviation
Technical Troops
Infantry
Military band
Armoured Troops (i.e. Tanks)
Pioneers (i.e. Engineering)
Medical Troops

Bright Red:General ranks (only "Kragenspiegel", not "Litze"),
Crimson: General Staff
Rank structure

The rank structure of the German army is adjusted to the rank structure of NATO. Unlike its predecessors, the modern German Army does not use the rank of Colonel General.
The highest rank for an army officer is Lieutenant General, as the rank of Full General is reserved for the Armed Forces chief of staff or officers serving as NATO officers.

Officers

NATO codeOF-10OF-9OF-8OF-7OF-6OF-5OF-4OF-3OF-2OF-1OF(D)Student officer Germany
(Edit)No equivalentEnlisted rank plus bottom thin silver
cord indicating cadet's careerGeneralGeneralleutnantGeneralmajorBrigadegeneralOberstOberstleutnantMajorStabshauptmannHauptmannOberleutnantLeutnantOberfähnrichFähnrichFahnenjunker

NCOs and enlisted

NATO CodeOR-9OR-8OR-7OR-6OR-5OR-4OR-3OR-2OR-1 Germany
(Edit)OberstabsfeldwebelStabsfeldwebelHauptfeldwebelOberfeldwebelFeldwebelStabsunteroffizierUnteroffizierOberstabsgefreiterStabsgefreiterHauptgefreiterObergefreiterGefreiterSoldat Germany
(Officer designate)
 (Edit)No equivalentNo equivalentOberfähnrichFähnrichFahnenjunker

See also

Wehrmacht
Kaiserliche Armee
Bundeswehr
History of Germany during World War II
Infantryman of the Future
Imperial Army (German Empire) (to 1806)
Prussian Army
Reichswehr
Tank battalions of the German Army 1956–2008
Bavarian Army

Further reading
Addington, Larry H. The Blitzkrieg Era and the German General Staff, 1865-1941 (1971).
Bartov, Omer. Hitler's army: Soldiers, Nazis, and war in the Third Reich (1992).
Bull, Stephen. German Assault Troops of the First World War: Stosstrupptaktik-The First Stormtroopers (History Press, 2014).
Citino, Robert M. The Path to Blitzkrieg: Doctrine and Training in the German Army, 1920-39 (2007).
Citino, Robert M. Quest for Decisive Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe, 1899-1940 (2002).
Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt. A Genius for War: The German Army and General Staff, 1807-1945 (1977).
Gross, Gerhard P. The Myth and Reality of German Warfare: Operational Thinking From Moltke the Elder to Heusinger (2016).
Deist, Wilhelm, ed. The German military in the age of total war (Berg, 1985).

Hughes, Daniel J.  and Richard L. DiNardo, eds. Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918 (University Press of Kansas, 2018).
Kelleher,  Catherine M. "Fundamentals of German Security: The Creation of the Bundeswehr: Continuity and Change", in Stephen F. Szabo (ed.), The Bundeswehr and Western Security, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990.
Seaton, Albert. The German Army: 1933-45 (1982).
Showalter, Dennis. Instrument of War: The German army 1914-18 (2016)
Showalter, Dennis. The Wars of German Unification (2015)

 in German
Historical links

 - Colour photographs of German infantry during World War II
 - German Mountain Troops
 - Axis History site including German troops.


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A financial centre is a broad term the IMF define as encompassing:[lower-alpha 1] International Financial Centres (IFCs), such as New York City, London, and Tokyo; Regional Financial Centres (RFCs), such as Boston, Frankfurt, and Sydney; and Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs), such as The Cayman Islands, Dublin, and Singapore.[lower-alpha 2]
IFCs, and many RFCs, are full–service financial centres with direct access to large capital pools from banks, insurance companies, investment funds, and listed capital markets, and are major global cities.  OFCs, and also some RFCs, tend to specialise in tax-driven services, such as corporate tax planning tools, tax–neutral vehicles,[lower-alpha 3] and shadow banking/securitization, and can include smaller locations (e.g. Luxembourg), or city-states (e.g. Singapore). The IMF notes an overlap between RFCs and OFCs (e.g. Hong Kong and Singapore are OFCs and RFCs). Since 2010, academics consider OFCs synonymous with tax havens.[lower-alpha 4]
Background
Financial centres are locations with an agglomeration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to take place.[4] Participants can include financial intermediaries (such as banks and brokers), institutional investors (such as investment managers, pension funds, insurers, hedge funds), and issuers (such as companies and governments). Trading activity can take place on venues such as exchanges and involve clearing houses, although many transactions take place over-the-counter (OTC), that is directly between participants. Financial centres usually host companies that offer a wide range of financial services, for example relating to mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, or corporate actions; or which participate in other areas of finance, such as private equity and reinsurance. Ancillary financial services include rating agencies, as well as provision of related professional services, particularly legal advisory and management accounting.[5]
Definitions
FSF–IMF approach
In April 2000, the Financial Stability Forum ("FSF"),[lower-alpha 5] concerned about OFCs on global financial stability produced a report listing 42 OFCs.[6]  In June 2000, the IMF published a working paper on OFCs, but which also proposed a taxonomy on classifying the various types of global financial centres, which they listed as follows (with the description and examples they noted as typical of each category, also noted):[1]
International Financial Centre ("IFC").  Described by the IMF as being large international full–service centres with advanced settlement and payments systems, supporting large domestic economies, with deep and liquid markets where both the sources and uses of funds are diverse, and where legal and regulatory frameworks are adequate to safeguard the integrity of principal–agent relationships and supervisory functions. IFCs generally borrow short–term from non–residents and lend long–term to non–residents. In terms of assets, London is the largest and most established such centre, followed by New York, the difference being that the proportion of international to domestic business is much greater in the former. Examples cited by the IMF were: London, New York and Tokyo;Regional Financial Center ("RFC"). The IMF noted that RFCs, like IFCs, have developed financial markets and infrastructure and intermediate funds in and out of their region, but in contrast to IFCs, have relatively small domestic economies.  Examples cited by the IMF were: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Luxembourg;Offshore Financial Centre ("OFC"). The IMF noted that OFCs are usually smaller, and provide more specialist services, however, OFCs still ranged from centres that provide specialist and skilled activities, attractive to major financial institutions, and more lightly regulated centres that provide services that are almost entirely tax driven, and have very limited resources to support financial intermediation. The IMF listed 46 OFCs in 2000, the largest of which was Ireland, the Caribbean (includes the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands), Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg.
The IMF noted that the three categories were not mutually exclusive and that various locations could fall under the definition of an OFC and an RFC, in particular (e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong were cited).[1]
Rationale for OFCs

The IMF noted that OFCs could be set up for legitimate purposes (listing various reasons), but also for what the IMF called dubious purposes, citing tax evasion and money–laundering.  In 2007, the IMF produced the following definition of an OFC: a country or jurisdiction that provides financial services to nonresidents on a scale that is incommensurate with the size and the financing of its domestic economy.[7]  The FSF annual reports on global shadow banking use the IMF definition to track the OFCs with the largest financial centres relative to their domestic economies.[8]

Progress from 2000 onwards from IMF–OECD–FATF initiatives on common standards, regulatory compliance, and banking transparency, has reduced the regulatory attraction of OFCs over IFCs and RFCs. Since 2010, academics considered the services of OFCs to be synonymous with tax havens, and use the term OFC and tax haven interchangeably (e.g. the academic lists of tax havens include all the FSF–IMF OFCs).[2][3]
In July 2017, a study by the University of Amsterdam's CORPNET group, broke down the definition of an OFC into two subgroups, Conduit and Sink OFCs:[9]
24 Sink OFCs: jurisdictions in which a disproportionate amount of value disappears from the economic system (e.g. the traditional tax havens).
5 Conduit OFCs: jurisdictions through which a disproportionate amount of value moves toward Sink OFCs (e.g. the corporate–focused tax havens)
(Conduits are: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore and Ireland)
Sink OFCs rely on Conduit OFCs to re–route funds from high–tax locations using base erosion and profit shifting ("BEPS") tax planning tools, which are encoded, and accepted, in the Conduit OFC's extensive networks of global bilateral tax treaties.  Because Sink OFCs are more closely associated with traditional tax havens, they tend to have more limited treaty networks and access to global higher–tax locations.
Rankings
Prior to the 1960s, there is little data available to rank financial centres.[10]:1 In recent years many rankings have been developed and published. Two of the most relevant are the Global Financial Centres Index and the Xinhua–Dow Jones International Financial Centres Development Index.[11]
Global Financial Centres Index (2007–ongoing)

The Global Financial Centres Index ("GFCI") is compiled semi–annually by the London–based British think tank Z/Yen in conjunction with the Shenzen–based think tank  China Development Institute.[12] New York City led as of September 2018, although the list has demonstrated volatility in the rankings.[13]
As of September 2018, the top ten global financial centres per the GFCI article containing a ranked list of 100 financial centres were:[13]

(Δ) Appears on the FSF–IMF Offshore Financial Centre (OFC) Lists.

(†) Also appears as one of the top 5 Conduit OFC, in CORPNET's 2017 research; or

(‡) Also appears as one of the top 5 Sink OFC, in CORPNET's 2017 research.

Xinhua–Dow Jones Index (2010–2014)

The Xinhua–Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index was compiled annually by the Xinhua News Agency of China with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Dow Jones & Company of the United States from 2010 to 2014. During that time New York was the top–ranked centre.
According to the 2014 Xinhua–Dow Jones International Financial Centres Development Index, the top ten financial centres in the world were:[14]

(Δ) Appears on the FSF–IMF Offshore Financial Centre (OFC) Lists.

(†) Also appears as one of the top 5 Conduit OFC, in CORPNET's 2017 research; or

(‡) Also appears as one of the top 5 Sink OFC, in CORPNET's 2017 research.

Examples
Old finance centers such as Amsterdam, London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo have long histories.[15][16] Today there is a diverse range of financial centres worldwide.[17] While New York and London often stand out as the leading global financial centres,[18][19] other established financial centres provide significant competition and several newer financial centres are developing.[20] Despite this proliferation of financial centres, academics have discussed evidence showing increasing concentration of financial activity in the largest national and international financial centres in the 21st century.[21]:24–34 Others have discussed the ongoing dominance of New York and London, and the role linkages between these two financial centres played in the financial crisis of 2007–08.[22]
Comparisons of financial centres focus on their history, role and significance in serving national, regional and international financial activity. Each centre's offering includes differing legal, tax and regulatory environments.[23] One journalist suggested three factors for success as a financial city: "a pool of capital to lend or invest; a decent legal and taxation framework; and high-quality human resources".[24]
Major IMF IFCs
London, New York, and Tokyo are in every list of major IFCs.  Some of the major RFCs (see below), such as Paris, Frankfurt, Chicago, and Shanghai appear as IFCs in some lists.

London. London has been a leading international financial centre since the 19th century, acting as a centre of lending and investment around the world.[10]:74–75[26]:149 English contract law was adopted widely for international finance, with legal services provided in London.[27] Financial institutions located there provided services internationally such as  Lloyd's of London (founded 1686) for insurance and the Baltic Exchange (founded 1744) for shipping.[28] During the 20th century London played an important role in the development of new financial products such as the Eurodollar and Eurobonds in the 1960s, international asset management and international equities trading in the 1980s, and derivatives in the 1990s.[15]:13[5]:6,12–13,88–9[29]
London continues to maintain a leading position as a financial centre in the 21st century, and maintains the largest trade surplus in financial services around the world.[30][31][32] However, like New York, it faces new competitors including fast-rising eastern financial centres such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. London is the largest centre for derivatives markets,[33] foreign exchange markets,[34] money markets,[35] issuance of international debt securities,[36] international insurance,[37] trading in gold, silver and base metals through the London bullion market and London Metal Exchange,[38] and international bank lending.[5]:2[29][39] London benefits from its position between the Asia and U.S. time zones,[40] and has benefited from its location within the European Union,[41]:1 though this may end following the outcome of the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. As well as the London Stock Exchange, the Bank of England, the second oldest central bank, and the European Banking Authority are in London, although the EBA is moving to Paris in March 2019 after Brexit.[42]

New York. Since the middle of the 20th century, New York City, represented by Wall Street, has been described as a leading financial centre.[10]:1[21]:25[22]:4–5 Over the past few decades, with the rise of a multipolar world with new regional powers and global capitalism, numerous financial centres have challenged Wall Street, particularly London and several in Asia, which some analysts believe will be the focus of new worldwide growth.[44]:39–49[45] One source described New York as extending its lead as the world's centre of finance in September 2018; according to Reuters, the think-tank New Financial concluded the “raw” value of domestic and international financial activity like managing assets and issuing equity underscored the position of New York as the world's leading financial centre.[46]
New York City remains the largest centre for trading in public equity and debt capital markets, driven in part by the size and financial development of the U.S. economy.[44]:31–32[47] The NYSE and NASDAQ are the two largest stock exchanges in the world.[25] New York also leads in hedge fund management; private equity; and the monetary volume of mergers and acquisitions. Several investment banks and investment managers headquartered in New York City are important participants in other financial centres.[44]:34–35 The New York Federal Reserve Bank, the largest within the Federal Reserve System, regulates financial institutions and implements U.S. monetary policy,[48][49] which in turn influences the world's economy.[50][51] The three major global credit rating agencies – Standard and Poor's, Moody's Investor Service, and Fitch Ratings – are headquartered or co–headquartered in New York City, with Fitch being co–headquartered in London.

Tokyo. One report suggests that Japanese authorities are working on plans to transform Tokyo but have met with mixed success, noting that "initial drafts suggest that Japan's economic specialists are having trouble figuring out the secret of the Western financial centres' success."[52] Efforts include more English-speaking restaurants and services and the building of many new office buildings in Tokyo, but more powerful stimuli such as lower taxes have been neglected and a relative aversion to finance remains prevalent in Japan.[52] Tokyo emerged as a major financial centre in the 1980s as the Japanese economy became one of the largest in the world.[53]:1 As a financial centre, Tokyo has good links with New York City and London.[54][55]
Major IMF OFCs

These centres appear in all FSF–IMF lists of OFCs and, bar the Caribbean OFCs of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda, represent all the major OFCs.  Some also appear as RFCs in various lists, particularly Hong Kong, and Singapore.  They also appear on most lists of major tax havens, and on lists of the largest Conduit and Sink OFCs in the world.
Amsterdam. Amsterdam is well known for the size of its pension fund market. It is also a centre for banking and trading activities.[56] Amsterdam was a prominent financial centre in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and several of the innovations developed there were transported to London.[5]:24  In June 2017, a study published in Nature ranked the Netherlands as the world's largest Conduit OFC, a term use to describe the re-routing of fund flows to tax havens.[9][57][58]
Dublin. Dublin (via its International Financial Services Centre, "IFSC"), is a specialised financial services centre with a focus on fund administration and fund domiciling, as well as  base erosion and profit shifting ("BEPS") tax tools.  It is the largest securitisation location in the EU–28,[59][60][61] and the second largest domicile for investment funds, particularly alternative investment funds, after Luxembourg. Many of the funds domiciled in Dublin are managed in London.[41]:5–6  Dublin's advanced BEPS tax tools, for example the double Irish, the single malt, and the capital allowances for intangible assets ("CAIA") tools, have made Ireland the world's largest corporate tax haven.[62][63][64]

Hong Kong. As a financial centre, Hong Kong has strong links with London and New York City.[22]:10–11 It developed its financial services industry while a British territory and its present legal system, defined in Hong Kong Basic Law, is based on English law. In 1997, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, retaining its laws and a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer. Most of the world's 100 largest banks have a presence in the city.[65] Hong Kong is a leading location for initial public offerings, competing with New York City,[66] and also for merger and acquisition activity.[67]
Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a specialised financial services centre that is the largest location for investment fund domiciliation in Europe, and second in the world after the United States. Many of the funds domiciled in Luxembourg are managed in London.[41]:5–6 Luxembourg is the leading private banking centre in the Eurozone and the largest captive reinsurance centre in Europe. 143 banks from 28 different countries are established in Luxembourg.[68] The country is also the third largest renminbi centre in the world by numbers, in certain activities such as deposits, loans, bond listing and investment funds.[69] Three of the largest Chinese banks have their European hub in Luxembourg (ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank).
Singapore. With its strong links with London,[70] Singapore has developed into the Asia region's largest centre for foreign exchange and commodity trading, as well as a growing wealth management hub.[71] Other than Tokyo, it is one of the main centres for fixed income trading in Asia. However, the market capitalisation of its stock exchange has been falling since 2014 and several major companies plan to delist.[72]
Zurich. Zurich is a significant centre for banking, asset management including provision of alternative investment products, and insurance.[73][74][75] Since Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, Zurich is not directly subject to EU regulation.
Major IMF RFCs
In some lists, RFCs such as Paris, Frankfurt, Chicago, and Shanghai appear as IFCs, however, they do not appear in all lists.  They are certainly major RFCs.
Chicago. The Illinois city has the "world’s largest [exchange-traded] derivatives market" since the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade merged in 2007, under the CME Group.[76]
Dubai. The second largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates is a growing centre for finance in the Middle East, including for Islamic finance. Its emergence as a financial centre is relatively recent, although commercial banking activity in the UAE became established in the second half of the 20th century (the first commercial bank in Dubai was British Bank of the Middle East in 1946, and the first domestic commercial bank was the National Bank of Dubai established in 1963).[77]

Frankfurt. Frankfurt attracts many foreign banks which maintain offices in the city. It is the seat of Deutsche Börse, one of the leading stock exchanges and derivatives markets operators, and the European Central Bank, which sets the monetary policy for the single European currency, the euro; in addition, in 2014 the European Central Bank took over responsibility for banking supervision for the 18 countries which form the Eurozone. It is also the seat of Deutsche Bundesbank, the German central bank,[79] as well as of EIOPA, the EU's supervisory authority for insurances and occupational pension systems.[80]
Frankfurt has been the financial centre of Germany since the second half of the 20th century as it was before the mid-19th century. Berlin held the position during the intervening period, focusing on lending to European countries while London focused on lending to the Americas and Asia.[81][82]
Madrid. Madrid is the headquarters to the Spanish company Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, which owns the four stock exchanges in Spain, the largest being the Bolsa de Madrid. Trading of equities, derivatives and fixed income securities are linked through the Madrid-based electronic Spanish Stock Market Interconnection System (SIBE), handling more than 90% of all financial transactions. Madrid ranks fourth in European equities market capitalisation, and Madrid's Stock Exchange is second in terms of number of listed companies, just behind New York Stock Exchange (NYSE plus NASDAQ).[83] As a financial centre, Madrid has extensive links with Latin America and acts as a gateway for many Latin American financial firms to access the EU banking and financial markets.[84]:6–7
Milan. Italy's main centre of banking and finance. It hosts the Borsa Italiana stock exchange, one of the larger stock exchanges in Europe, which is now part of the London Stock Exchange Group.[85]:245
Paris. Alongside equity trading on the Paris Stock Exchange, there is futures and options trading, insurance, corporate banking and asset management taking place in Paris.[86] The city is home to the Banque de France and the European Securities and Markets Authority. Paris has been a major financial centre since the 19th century.[53]:1 The European Banking Authority is also moving to Paris in March 2019 following Brexit.[87]
Seoul. South Korea's capital has developed significantly as a financial centre since the late-2000s recession. In 2009, Seoul ranked 53rd among global financial centres; by 2012, Seoul had risen to number 9.[88] Seoul has continued to build office space with the completion of the International Financial Center Seoul in 2013. It ranked 7th in the 2015 Global Financial Centres Index, recording the highest growth in rating among the top ten cities.
Shanghai. Official efforts have been directed to making Pudong a financial leader by 2010.[89] Efforts during the 1990s were mixed, but in the  early 21st century, Shanghai gained ground. Factors such as a "protective banking sector" and a "highly restricted capital market" have held the city back, according to one analysis in 2009 in China Daily.[90] Shanghai has done well in terms of market capitalisation but it needs to "attract an army of money managers, lawyers, accountants, actuaries, brokers and other professionals, Chinese and foreign" to enable it to compete with New York and London.[91] China is generating tremendous new capital, which makes it easier to stage initial public offerings of state-owned companies in places like Shanghai.[92]
Sydney. Australia's most populous city is a financial and business services hub not only for Australia but for the Asia-Pacific region. Sydney competes quite closely with other Asia Pacific hubs, however it concentrates a greater portion of Australian-based business in terms of clients and services. Sydney is home to two of Australia's four largest banks, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation, both headquartered in the Sydney CBD. Sydney is also home to 12 of the top 15 asset managers in Australia, Melbourne, on the other hand, tends to concentrate more of the Australian superannuation funds (pension funds). Sydney is using the large Barangaroo development project on its harbour to further position itself as an Asian Pacific hub.[93] Sydney is also home to the Australian Securities Exchange and an array of brokerage banks which are either headquartered or regionally based in Sydney including Australia's largest investment bank Macquarie Group.[94][95]
Toronto. The city is a leading market for Canada's largest financial institutions and large insurance companies. It has also become one of the fastest growing financial centres following the late-2000s recession, helped by the stability of the Canadian banking system. Most of the financial industry is concentrated along Bay Street, where the Toronto Stock Exchange is also located.[96]
Others. Mumbai is an emerging financial centre, which also provides international support services to London and other financial centres.[97][98][99] Cities such as São Paulo, Mexico City and Johannesburg and other "would-be hubs" lack liquidity and the "skills base," according to one source.[24] Financial industries in countries and regions such as the Indian subcontinent and Malaysia require not only well-trained people but the "whole institutional infrastructure of laws, regulations, contracts, trust and disclosure" which takes time to happen.[24]
History

Pre 17th century
Primitive financial centres started in the 11th century in the Kingdom of England at the annual fair of St. Giles and in the Kingdom of Germany at the Frankfurt autumn fair, then developed in medieval France during the Champaign Fairs.[100][78]
Italian city-states

The first real international financial center was the City State of Venice which slowly emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century.[100] Tradable bonds as a commonly used type of security, were invented by the Italian city-states (such as Venice and Genoa) of the late medieval and early Renaissance periods.
The low countries

For the origin and history of the bourse in general (not to be confused with the concept of the stock exchange and stock market), see exchange (organized market).
In the sixteenth century, the overall economic supremacy of the Italian city-states gradually came to an end, and the centre of financial activities in Europe shifted to the Low Countries, first to Bruges, and later to Antwerp and Amsterdam. They also became important centres of financial innovation.
17th–18th centuries
Rise of Amsterdam

In the 17th century, Amsterdam became the leading commercial and financial centre. It held this position for more than a century,[103][104][105] and was the first modern model of an international financial centre.[106] As Richard Sylla (2015) noted, "In modern history, several nations had what some of us call financial revolutions. These can be thought of as creating in a short period of time all the key components of a modern financial system. The first was the Dutch Republic four centuries ago."[107][108][109] Amsterdam – unlike its predecessors such as Bruges, Antwerp, Genoa, and Venice – controlled crucial resources and markets directly, sending its fleets to all quarters of the world.[110]
During their Golden Age, the Dutch were responsible for three major institutional innovations in economic, financial and business history of the world:
The foundation of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the world's first publicly listed company[111][112] and an early pioneering model of the multinational corporation,[113][114][115][116] in 1602. The birth of the VOC is often considered to be the official beginning of corporate-led globalization with the rise of modern corporations (multinational corporations in particular) as a highly significant socio-politico-economic force that affect human lives in every corner of the world today. As the first company to be listed on an official stock exchange), the VOC was the first company to issue stock and bonds to the general public. With its pioneering features, the VOC is generally considered a major institutional breakthrough and the model for modern corporations (large-scale business enterprises in particular). It was the first precursor to modern multinational corporations.
The establishment of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (or Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch), the world's first official stock exchange,[lower-alpha 6] along with the birth of the first fully functioning capital market in the early 1600s.[118] While the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they didn't develop the other ingredient necessary to produce the fully fledged capital market in its modern sense: a formal stock market.[119][120][121] The Dutch were the firsts to use a fully fledged capital market (including the bond market and stock market) to finance public companies (such as the VOC and WIC). This was a precedent for the global securities market in its modern form. In the early 1600s the VOC established an exchange in Amsterdam where VOC stock and bonds could be traded in a secondary market. The establishment of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser) by the VOC, has long been recognized as the origin of modern-day stock exchanges[122][123] that specialize in creating and sustaining secondary markets in the securities issued by corporations. The process of buying and selling shares (of stock) in the VOC became the basis of the first formal stock market.[124][125] The Dutch pioneered stock futures, stock options, short selling, bear raids, debt-equity swaps, and other speculative instruments. Amsterdam businessman Joseph de la Vega's Confusion of Confusions (1688) was the earliest book about stock trading. Early techniques of stock-market manipulation occurred.
The establishment of the Bank of Amsterdam (Amsterdamsche Wisselbank), often considered to be the first historical model of the central bank,[126][127][128] in 1609. The birth of the Amsterdamsche Wisselbank led to the introduction of the concept of bank money. Along with a number of subsidiary local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system.[129][130][131][132][133] It occupied a central position in the financial world of its day, providing an effective, efficient and trusted system for national and international payments, and introduced the first ever international reserve currency, the bank guilder.[134] Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder (le florin européen),[135] and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works (Smith 1776: 446-455). The model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden (1668) and the Bank of England (1694).
In many respects, the 17th-century Dutch financial innovations helped shape the foundations of modern-day financial system of the world,[136][137][138] and greatly influenced the financial history of many English-speaking countries (especially the United Kingdom and United States)[139][140] in subsequent centuries.
By the early 1800s, London officially replaced Amsterdam as the world's leading financial centre. In his book Capitals of Capital (2010), Youssef Cassis argues that the decline and fall of Amsterdam, as the world's foremost financial capital, was one of the dramatic events in history of global finance.[141]
19th–21st centuries

London and Paris were the world's only prominent financial centers throughout most of the 19th century.[53]:1 After 1870, Berlin and New York grew to become major financial centres mainly serving their national economies. An array of smaller international financial centers found market niches, such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, and Geneva. London remained the leading international financial center in the four decades leading up to World War I.[10]:74–75[15]:12–15 Since then, New York and London have developed leading positions in different activities and some non-Western financial centres have grown in prominence, notably Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Rise of London

London has been a leading international financial centre since the 19th century, acting as a centre of lending and investment around the world.[10]:74–75[142]:149 English contract law was adopted widely for international finance, with legal services provided in London.[143] Financial institutions located there provided services internationally such as  Lloyd's of London (founded 1686) for insurance and the Baltic Exchange (founded 1744) for shipping.[144] During the 20th century London played an important role in the development of new financial products such as the Eurodollar and Eurobonds in the 1960s, international asset management and international equities trading in the 1980s, and derivatives in the 1990s.[15]:13[5]:6,12–13,88–9[29]
London continues to maintain a leading position as a financial centre in the 21st century, and maintains the largest trade surplus in financial services around the world.[145][146][147] However, like New York, it faces new competitors including fast-rising eastern financial centres such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. London is the largest centre for derivatives markets,[148] foreign exchange markets,[149] money markets,[150] issuance of international debt securities,[151] international insurance,[152] trading in gold, silver and base metals through the London bullion market and London Metal Exchange,[153] and international bank lending.[5]:2[29][154] London benefits from its position between the Asia and U.S. time zones,[155] and has benefited from its location within the European Union,[41]:1 though this may end following the outcome of the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. As well as the London Stock Exchange, the Bank of England, the second oldest central bank, and the European Banking Authority are in London, although the EBA is moving to Paris in March 2019 after Brexit.[156]
Rise of New York

Since the middle of the 20th century, New York City, represented by Wall Street, has been described as a leading financial centre.[10]:1[21]:25[22]:4–5 Over the past few decades, with the rise of a multipolar world with new regional powers and global capitalism, numerous financial centres have challenged Wall Street, particularly London and several in Asia, which some analysts believe will be the focus of new worldwide growth.[44]:39–49[157] One source described New York as extending its lead as the world's centre of finance in September 2018; according to Reuters, the think-tank New Financial concluded the “raw” value of domestic and international financial activity like managing assets and issuing equity underscored the position of New York as the world's leading financial centre.[46]
New York City remains the largest centre for trading in public equity and debt capital markets, driven in part by the size and financial development of the U.S. economy.[44]:31–32[158] The NYSE and NASDAQ are the two largest stock exchanges in the world.[25] New York also leads in hedge fund management; private equity; and the monetary volume of mergers and acquisitions. Several investment banks and investment managers headquartered in New York City are important participants in other financial centres.[44]:34–35 The New York Federal Reserve Bank, the largest within the Federal Reserve System, regulates financial institutions and implements U.S. monetary policy,[48][159] which in turn influences the world's economy.[160][161] The three major global credit rating agencies – Standard and Poor's, Moody's Investor Service, and Fitch Ratings – are headquartered or co–headquartered in New York City, with Fitch being co–headquartered in London.
Rise of Asian centres

In Asia, Tokyo emerged as a major financial centre in the 1980s as the Japanese economy became one of the largest in the world.[53]:1 Hong Kong and Singapore developed soon after leveraging their links with London and Britain.[22]:10–11[70] In the 21st century, other centres have grown including Toronto, Sydney, Seoul and Shanghai. Dubai has become a  centre for finance in the Middle East, including for Islamic finance. The rapid rise of India has enabled Mumbai to become an emerging financial centre.  Linked to the rise of these new IFCs, has seen the rise of "partner OFCs" (offshore tax-havens to which funds are routed), such as Taiwan (a major Sink OFC for Asia, and 7th largest global Sink OFC), Mauritius (a major Sink OFC for S.E Asia, especially India, and Africa, and the 9th largest global Sink OFC).
The private nationwide financial system in China was first developed by the Shanxi merchants, with the creation of so-called "draft banks". The first draft bank Rishengchang was created in 1823 in Pingyao. Some large draft banks had branches in Russia, Mongolia and Japan to facilitate the international trade. Throughout the nineteenth century, the central Shanxi region became the de facto financial centres of Qing China.  With the fall of Qing Dynasty, the financial centers gradually shifted to Shanghai, mainly due to its geographical location at the estuary of the Yangtze river, and the control of customs in China. After the establishment of People's Republic of China, the financial centres in China today are Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
See also
Global city
Corporate tax haven
Financial capital
Financial Development Index
Geography of finance
Global financial system
Nylonkong
Conduit and Sink OFCs
Notes

 – news articles from The Banker magazine.
 – a forum on developments in international financial services centres.
 – research on global financial centres from the  Z/Yen Group.