Canada and the International System of Bank Headquarters Cities, 1968–1989

Abstract

This paper examines spatial-temporal trends in the international system of corporate banking centers. It is evident that the largest corporations locate their headquarters in a formal national decision-making hierarchy and that national and regional nodes within this hierarchy house the headquarters of major banks. Initially these banks link clients internally. However, as domestic corporations evolve into transnationals, banks follow their customers overseas and establish foreign headquarters. The results of the study indicate that,