A Northern England Fantasy

How do we get the Financial services industry as it was in the 19th century to move closer to the then industrial heartland of what is now the M62 corridor? End result is that the stock exchange is in Liverpool or Manchester. OK wrong side of the pennines but at least not in London. Would this just transfer the London problem (ie most of money and jobs there) to southern Lancashire or is everything more evenly spread around UK?
 
The Stock market wouldn't be up there for the simple case that it grew out of the old exchange Market in London. In fact all of the financial services in London grew from existing institutions- the insurance industry from Lloyds shipping for example.

Simply put, by the time we get to the Industrial revolution, London is already the financial centre of the country, mostly due to being where the Government was, good transport and communications and being the largest port in the country until some time around the early 19th century. These are all a result of the fact that finance, especially stocks, needs to be as able to get news and government decisions as quickly as possible to be able to react before competitors.

So I don't think this is possible beyond a LTTW style situation where Southern England's been completely ravaged by a foreign invader and the seat of government temporarily relocated north. Which completely alters the national economy far more significantly than simply relocating the financial services.
 
How do we get the Financial services industry as it was in the 19th century to move closer to the then industrial heartland of what is now the M62 corridor? End result is that the stock exchange is in Liverpool or Manchester. OK wrong side of the pennines but at least not in London. Would this just transfer the London problem (ie most of money and jobs there) to southern Lancashire or is everything more evenly spread around UK?
Glasgow had a stock exchange until 1973, when it merged with London. Having a stock exchange does not equal being the national centre of power. You would need to change the structure of the UK politically to get your desired changes.
 
Take the point about it being developed from the London Markets but was it really that inevitable that London would remain the centre of the known universe? Short of Napoleon invading and he would probably wanted London relatively intact, is there any way of at least ameliorating the home county bias in the UK?
 
Just using an example from the US, we have New York as the money center and not St Louis, MO.
 
Have Napoleon invade in 1805.

His army reaches London where it and the city are destroyed in a proto Stalingrad style battle.

Meanwhile the British government has evacuated to Manchester along with the Bank of England etc.

Afterwards they decide to remain there as it offers the advantages of military security, proximity to the industrialising areas and better communications to Ireland, scotland and Wales.
 
The problem is that apart from the those countries which have an artificial capital (Canberra, Washington, The Hague) or were unified after the development of a financial industry (Frankfurt) you've got the financial industry and the government in the same, Paris, Vienna, London, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Budapest etc.
 
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