Abstract: Based on the complex network centrality calculating model and according to the data of the offices and branches set up in 78 node cities in the global financial network system of 114 financial multinational corporations among the world top 500 enterprises, this article estimates the degree centrality and the betweenness centrality of Shanghai in the global financial network system. The results show that compared with the top node cities Shanghai’s status and influence in the global financial network system still have some distance to catch up. The major reasons for this gap are as follows: fewer financial institutions at headquarter level, lower multinational index of financial institutions, and relatively insufficient international financial assets and business volume, etc.. The deeper level reasons for this gap are such factors as insufficient compatibility of some of the basic constitutive elements of China’s financial institutional framework with the international norms, lower opening degree of the financial markets and so on. Therefore, it is of great significance to promote financial system innovation, to explore actively a modern financial system with inclusivity, competitiveness and being geared to international standards, and to increase the opening degree of financial markets as soon as possible at the meantime, which will help the construction of a global financial center in Shanghai.

Key words: complex network centrality; global financial center; Shanghai