The dark side of innovation in financial centres: legal designs and territorialities of law

Abstract

Innovation studies rarely incorporate finance in their analysis, although productive innovation and economic development require efficient allocation of financial resources. Complex financial vehicles other than banks increasingly fund global economic activity. These innovative, yet ‘dark’ financial entities service the shielding of private–not public–wealth, and challenge the positive notion of financial innovation as they help cement socio-spatial inequalities. We illustrate how legal structuring benefits (from) the commercialization of state sovereignty and the finetuned work of finance-cum-law that have long shaped the business model of leading financial centres; a legacy difficult to disengage from in times of financial sustainability imperatives.