After two years of talking, 11 financial groups representing major financial districts in Eurasia and the Middle East have launched the World Alliance of International Financial Centers, with an aim toward sharing best practices on compliance and regulatory matters, fintech, green investment and other issues.

WAIFC was proposed by the financial centers of Frankfurt (Germany), Moscow (Russia) and Paris (France) in December 2016 with plans to facilitate cooperation and the exchange of best practices to contribute to economic growth. Financial center is a term of art referring to a city or region with a heavy concentration of financial institutions and large volumes of commercial activity.