Civilisation/Business

Central banks

Bank of England was founded by William Paterson in 1694. The Bank's original home was in Walbrook in the City of London. Current headquarters have been on Threadneedle Street since 1734. The bank financed the Royal Navy in 1694, via creation of the National Debt

John Houblon was the first Governor of the Bank of England. The current Governor is Andrew Bailey

The Chief Cashier is the person responsible for issuing banknotes at the Bank of England. Since 1870 the Chief Cashier's signature has been printed on all bank notes issued by the Bank of England. John Kendrick was the first Chief Cashier

Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created in 1913. The primary declared motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics

European Central Bank (ECB) was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998 and is headquartered in Frankfurt. The primary objective of the European Central Bank is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone, which is the same as keeping inflation low. The current president is Christine Lagarde

International financial institutions

World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. The World Bank is based in Washington, D.C. Consists of two agencies of the five that comprise the World Bank Group: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and The International Development Association (IDA)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. Headquarters are in Washington, D. C. It works to foster global growth and economic stability by providing policy advice and financing the members by working with developing countries to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty. The current managing director is Kristalina Georgieva

Stock exchanges

Bourse of Antwerp was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange. It was founded in 1531 and closed in 1997 when merged into the Brussels Stock Exchange

Amsterdam Stock Exchange is considered the oldest in the world. It was established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company for dealings in its printed stocks and bonds. It was subsequently renamed the Amsterdam Bourse and was the first to formally begin trading in securities. It is now known as Euronext Amsterdam

Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham. After the building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, it was rebuilt and re-established in 1669. This was a move away from coffee houses and a step towards the modern model of a stock exchange

London Stock Exchange was founded in 1801. Financial markets were de-regulated in the “Big Bang” in 1986. Moved from Old Broad Street to Paternoster Square in 2004

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was founded in 1792. It is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalisation of its listed companies. NYSE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), an American holding company. Previously, it was part of NYSE Euronext (NYX), which was formed by the NYSE's 2007 merger with Euronext

Euronext N.V. is a European electronic stock exchange based in Amsterdam, and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services

NASDAQ began trading in 1971, and was the world's first electronic stock market. Nasdaq was initially an acronym for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. NASDAQ eventually assumed the majority of major trades formerly executed by the over-the-counter (OTC) system of trading. It is the world's second-largest stock exchange by market capitalisation of its listed companies

Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) was founded in 1990. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world's third-largest stock exchange by market capitalisation

Japan Exchange Group owns and operates the Tokyo Stock Exchange

Bombay Stock Exchange is located in Mumbai. Established in 1875, it is the oldest stock exchange in Asia

SIX Swiss Exchange is based in Zurich and is Switzerland's principal stock exchange

Saudi Stock Exchange or Tadawul is a stock exchange in Riyadh

JSE Limited (previously the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa

Stock market indices

FTSE 100 Index (Financial Times Stock Exchange) is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation. The index is maintained by the FTSE Group and index began on 3 January 1984 at the base level of 1000. Other related indices are the FTSE 250 Index (which includes the next largest 250 companies after the FTSE 100), the FTSE 350 Index (which is the aggregation of the FTSE 100 and 250), FTSE SmallCap Index and the FTSE Fledgling Index

Dow Jones Industrial Average was created by Charles Dow, the editor of The Wall Street Journal and the co-founder of Dow Jones & Company, and named after him and his business associate, statistician Edward Jones. It was first calculated in 1896, and is a price-weighted measurement stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States

S&P 500 (Standard and Poor’s 500) tracks the performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States

NYSE Composite is a stock market index covering all common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Over 2,000 stocks are covered in the index

Nasdaq-100 is made up of 101 equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock market

CAC 40 is a measure of the 40 most significant stocks among the 100 largest market caps on the Euronext Paris

AEX index is a stock market index composed of Dutch companies that trade on Euronext Amsterdam

BEL 20 is the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels

PSI-20 is the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Lisbon

EURO STOXX 50 is a stock index of Eurozone stocks designed by STOXX, an index provider owned by Deutsche Börse Group

DAX is a stock market index consisting of the 40 major German blue-chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

IBEX 35 is the benchmark stock market index of the Bolsa de Madrid, Spain's principal stock exchange

Hang Seng Index is an index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Launched in 1969

Nikkei 225 measures the performance of 225 large, publicly owned companies in Japan

Straits Times Index tracks the performance of the top 30 companies that are listed on the Singapore Exchange

BSE SENSEX is a stock market index of 30 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange

NIFTY 50 represents 50 of the largest Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange

SSE Composite Index is an index of all stocks that are traded at the Shanghai Stock Exchange

CSI 300 is a stock market index designed to replicate the performance of the top 300 stocks traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange

TA-125 Index is a stock market index of the 125 most highly capitalised companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) is the representative stock market index of South Korea

S&P/TSX Composite Index is the benchmark Canadian index of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)

All Ordinaries is the oldest index of shares in Australia

VIX is the ticker symbol and the popular name for the Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index, a popular measure of the stock market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index options. It is calculated and disseminated on a real-time basis by the CBOE, and is commonly referred to as the “fear index”

Commodities and Futures Exchanges

London Metal Exchange (LME) is the futures exchange with the world's largest market in options and futures contracts on base and other metals. The London Metal Market and Exchange Company was founded in 1877. At first only copper was traded. Lead and zinc were soon added but only gained official trading status in 1920. Many deals are made for commodities to be delivered in three months' time. The custom stems from the time that copper cargoes originally took in 1877 on their voyage from the ports of Chile. Headquarters are on Leadenhall Street

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange

CME Group Inc. (Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, New York Mercantile Exchange, The Commodity Exchange) is the world's largest financial derivatives exchange. Headquarters are in Chicago