McKinsey asked top executives at 15 leading global financial-services companies what they wanted in a city for their regional headquarters. The subject is of keen interest in Asia, where the dynamism of Shanghai—and of China in general—is calling into question long-standing corporate and civic ties elsewhere. Officials in cities such as Seoul are asking how they could attract regional corporate headquarters. So are officials in Eastern Europe's growing economies, eight of which join the European Union in 2004. How does a corporation choose among Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw? Both economic development and prestige are at stake. A survey identified six important criteria, three of them primary and three secondary.