Stay or leave? US-listed Chinese companies under financial decoupling push and the reshaping of global financial networks

The deterioration of Sino-US relations in recent years has led to a financial decoupling between the world's two largest economies, impacting Chinese companies listed on US stock markets. This study explores the consequential decisions of these companies to either remain listed or leave the US markets and examines their impacts on the reshaping of Global Financial Networks (GFNs). By utilizing an analytical framework encompassing listings, delistings, and cross-listings, we identify distinct channels through which Sino-US geopolitical tensions shape GFNs. Our findings reveal a notable shift towards a regionalized spatial pattern within GFNs following the return of Chinese companies to the Hong Kong and mainland China stock markets. During this transformative process, Chinese securities firms have emerged as significant players, challenging the dominance of Western bulge-bracket banks. Moreover, Hong Kong has become an increasingly central node in the GFNs shaped by Chinese companies' return listings. Nonetheless, New York sustains its pre-eminence as a leading financial centre, and the Cayman Islands retains its pivotal role as an offshore jurisdiction. These findings highlight the formative and restructuring power of world governments (WGs) within GFNs. Taken together, the contributions of this paper are twofold. First, it advances our understanding of the intricate relationship between geopolitics and GFNs, shedding light on the impacts of geopolitical tensions on global finance. Second, it argues that the GFN approach is a powerful framework for exploring how global financial activities are embedded in geopolitical dynamics.