A place in which an above-average amount of financial business takes place. The big ones are New York, London, Tokyo and Frankfurt. Small ones such as Dublin, Bermuda, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands also play an important part in the global financial system. Globalization and the increase in electronic trading has raised concerns about whether there will be as much need for financial centers in the 21st century as there was in the 19th and 20th centuries. So far, the evidence suggests that the biggest, at least, will remain important.