Paris and London are only two and a half hours apart by train – or milliseconds by electronic message. But despite the gravitational pull of London, Paris maintains its own vibrant and distinctive derivatives market. In the first of a new series in which FOi visits the derivatives communities of European cities, Siân Williams reports that Parisians still fear the brain drain to London, but believe the flow of talent might be turning in Paris’s favour.
The view from the Palais de Chaillot in Paris is impressive. Near the Trocadéro metro station, this exhibition centre, built in the 1930s, boasts views of some of Paris’s main attractions: the Eiffel Tower, the Hôtel des Invalides and a fine view of skyscrapers cutting across the clear autumnal sky.
But walk just a hundred metres or two from this tourist idyll and you can enter a variety of elegant buildings that house...