Diversity in brokerage cities: the evolution of urban positionality in China’s financial system

The competitiveness of financial centres increasingly hinges on their capability at brokering financial flows. Though existing studies have paid attention to the rise and fall of some financial brokerage cities (FBCs), less is known about how such dynamics of FBCs have been shaped by the structure of financial networks and the interactions among FBCs. Taking China's financial network as an example, we consider not only the interactions between FBCs but also their multiple brokerage roles. Empirical analyses confirm that a city's brokerage dynamics are neither independent nor can be portrayed as a linear trajectory.