The City of London covers 1.12 square miles, houses fewer than 9,000 residents, and still sits at the centre of a network that Tax Justice Network ranks as the world\u2019s largest enabler of corporate tax abuse.<\/p>\n
A few days ago we asked<\/a> whether London remains a top global financial centre. This piece goes behind that question: what kind of place is the City of London, actually?<\/p>\n Why Is the\u00a0City\u00a0Not the Same as\u00a0London?\u00a0<\/p>\n Official\u00a0City of London Corporation figures\u00a0put<\/a> the resident population at\u00a0roughly 8,600. More than 676,000 people work there on a normal day. The governing body is the\u00a0City of London Corporation. It is older than Parliament. Its privileges show up in Magna Carta. Greater London has an elected Mayor. The\u00a0City\u00a0has<\/a> its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n The City of London is not London. It is a one-square-mile medieval enclave with its own laws, its own government, its own police force, and its own mayor \u2014 separate from the Mayor of London. It operates outside British law by design. It is the global capital of offshore banking,\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/qDmsdy0MKH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Quantum Party (@QuantumParty_) April 21, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n You end up with a place that looks like a local council but acts like a centuries-old corporate body. A tiny number of residents sit alongside livery companies,\u00a0ceremony\u00a0and serious money. That mismatch drives\u00a0almost everything\u00a0else.<\/p>\n How Does the Strangest Local Government in Britain\u00a0Actually Work?<\/p>\n Nowhere else in the UK do businesses get a vote in local elections. In the City<\/a> they do. Companies that occupy premises can\u00a0nominate<\/a> voters\u00a0based on how many staff they have. Small firms get one vote. Bigger ones get more. Because so few people\u00a0actually live\u00a0there, the business franchise dominates.\u00a0<\/p>\n The City of London Police answers to the Corporation, not the Met. And then there is the Remembrancer. The job dates from 1571. He is one of the Corporation\u2019s chief officers, its parliamentary\u00a0agent\u00a0and its chief of protocol. He sits in the House of Commons under-gallery, opposite the Speaker, and keeps an eye on any legislation that might touch the City\u2019s interests. No other financial district keeps a permanent official inside the legislature like that. The Corporation\u2019s own pages describe<\/a> the\u00a0Remembrancer\u2019s role\u00a0in those exact terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n The epicentre of the tax haven network system is the City of London Corporation. It exists to protect capital from democratic accountability. It’s high time it was abolished.@RichardJMurphy<\/a> says we need a revolution to end this abuse. I agree, do you?https:\/\/t.co\/IVicUQU9cI<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Chris Williamson (@DerbyChrisW) May 20, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n We checked the public records and the current Remembrancer is Paul Wright. The post has run continuously for more than 450 years. That is not just tradition. It is operational.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Lord Mayor\u00a0does <\/a>a one-year term as the City\u2019s global ambassador for UK financial services and travels with quasi-Cabinet status. A lot of the funding sits<\/a> in City\u2019s Estate\u00a0(formerly City\u2019s Cash), a private endowment built up over centuries from property,\u00a0bequests\u00a0and investments. The Corporation publishes accounts, but the fund has long sat outside the full transparency rules that apply to ordinary council money. Critics keep asking how big the total asset base really is. The published numbers give income and some holdings. The complete picture is harder to put together than a normal local-authority budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where Does The Spider\u2019s Web Begin?\u00a0<\/p>\n Nicholas Shaxson\u00a0in\u00a0Treasure Islands\u00a0and tax campaigner\u00a0Richard Murphy\u00a0call the\u00a0City\u00a0the centre of a British-linked offshore network. Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Cayman, Bermuda,\u00a0Gibraltar\u00a0and the British Virgin Islands all feed capital and business back toward London. Shaxson describes<\/a> it as a filter that lets the\u00a0City\u00a0touch the dirtier end of the market while keeping a bit of distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Tax Justice Network\u2019s\u00a0Corporate Tax Haven Index\u00a0ranks<\/a>\u00a0the British Virgin Islands\u00a0first. Cayman and Bermuda sit right behind it. The UK and its territories together account for\u00a0roughly one-third\u00a0of the global corporate-tax-abuse risk the index measures. Tax\u00a0Justice UK\u00a0puts<\/a> the annual revenue loss to other countries at about $84 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n We looked at the latest company numbers. The British Virgin Islands has a population of around 32,000 and more than 360,000 active companies. That is\u00a0roughly eleven\u00a0companies for every resident. Britain appoints the governor and keeps responsibility for defence and foreign affairs. The territory sets its own (effectively zero) tax regime for international business companies. The Panama Papers made<\/a> the scale hard to ignore: the BVI was the single largest\u00a0jurisdiction\u00a0in the leak, with more than 110,000 companies, and UK-based advisers were among the most\u00a0numerous.\u00a0<\/p>\n Defenders say these structures give legitimate tax neutrality and legal certainty. Critics say<\/a> they enable large-scale profit shifting and secrecy while the\u00a0City\u00a0takes the fees and the professional-services work. Both sides can point to evidence. The question is which evidence matters more to the people who write the rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can Both Things Stay True at Once?\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0City\u00a0still handles\u00a0nearly 38%\u00a0of global foreign-exchange trading and almost half of over-the-counter interest-rate derivatives. Its legal system, professional services cluster and time-zone position still pull in serious capital. That part of the story has not gone away.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same\u00a0time\u00a0the constitutional oddities are still there: the business vote, the Remembrancer, City\u2019s Estate, and the position at the centre of a British offshore network. The Square Mile is not just a district inside London. It is\u00a0a jurisdiction\u00a0with its own government, its own\u00a0police\u00a0and a long-running relationship with a web of low-tax territories.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether those two realities can keep coexisting without more political pressure is the question the next few years will have to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Author:\u00a0Vagner Dos Santos Trindade<\/a><\/p>\n The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or\u00a0organisations\u00a0have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is\u00a0most definitely\u00a0not financial advice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n See Also:\u00a0<\/p>\n Is the City of London Still a Global Financial Centre?<\/a><\/p>\n