The Evolution of the Euromarkets

Abstract

Because of the unique contribution the Euromarkets have made, both to the post-war recovery of the City of London as an international financial centre and, more significantly, to the development and transformation of the global economy, it is not surprising that the literature dealing with both the recovery of the City and the operation and history of the international financial system during this period, is studded with references to Eurodollars, Eurosterling, Euromarks, Eurocurrencies, Eurobonds, Eurobanks, Euromarkets and Euromoney. These texts, in turn, can be divided into distinct — if naturally overlapping — sub-texts. Thus, literature on the recovery of the City emanates largely from two separate, if interconnected, debates revolving around the apparent contradictory relationship between Britain’s manufacturing and financial sectors, the so-called City-industry divide, or, as Plender and Wallace (1985: 15–16) describe it, the phenomenon of the ‘two Cities’: (1) the broader Decline of Britain debate, and (2) a narrower Marxist/neo-Marxist debate on the conflict between capital fractions (financial/commercial v. manufacturing) in Britain, and how this impacts on Marxist state theory and the development of global capitalism.¹ Euromarkets also feature prominently in the literature on the post-war political economy of sterling, on the history of the City, the Bank of England and particular merchant and overseas banks.²