Matt Rush talks about the stronghold Charlotte has on the banking industry 

When the topic of global banking cities are brought up, the vast majority of people will immediately think of the likes of New York City, Tokyo and London. However, those with knowledge of the industry have much different ideas, with Charlotte in North Carolina holding the title of being one of the most dominant financial cities in the world.

In fact, if we were to delve into specifics, Charlotte was the second most powerful financial city only a couple of years ago. San Francisco has recently overtaken it, but experts believe that it’s just a matter of time before this North Carolina city reverts back to its former glory.

One such expert is Matt Rush. We have delved into his knowledge of the banking industry in the United States to find out just some of the reasons why Charlotte has emerged as such a strong city when it comes to banking.

The value of its assets are enormous

It was all the way back in 1995 where people started to slowly believe the hype about Charlotte’s impact on the financial industry.

It was around this time that some of the big players in the industry, such as NationsBank and First Union, made some huge deals in the city. It was these deals that really catapulted Charlotte into the forefront of the financial industry, with its assets said to have reached almost $500 billion.

Sure, many might suggest that the city is still significantly behind New York City, which is understood to have assets worth around $8 billion. At the same time, it was streets ahead of San Francisco – boasting around 20% more assets at one point in history.

The expansion factor

This next point relates to both people and companies. If we wind back the clock ten years or so, Charlotte had around 17,000 more people in 2007 than it did in 2006. From a financial perspective, this obviously presents monumental opportunities and meant that the city was developing at a frantic rate. For example, the infrastructure developments were significant and the city saw the likes of new skyscrapers and transport systems to facilitate this growth in population.

To put the above into more perspective, it’s understood the city was therefore ranked as the 9th in population growth in the entire country.

It’s completely international

Something that separates the large from the enormous when it comes to financial cities is the focus on international banking. Suffice to say, Charlotte focusses on this intently, and has countless banks that are offering services such as foreign currency exchange, international transactions and money transfers across the world. Many of these banks have branches that operate in thousands of other cities across the world, ranking from Beijing to Tokyo.

Of course, international banking is where most of the big money is and considering the emphasis on this sector, it’s hardly surprising to see Charlotte ranked so highly when it comes to the world’s financial cities.