Corporations own corporations
Corporations own banks
Banks are corporations
Corporations own Land
Land owns everything (minerals)
The only thing holding strings over them (besides the supernatural forces) are the owners of the corporations, which could be them, or it could be the Crown and Vatican.
It's a triad/trinity of Royalty Military Power and Religion
The Obelisks are in the Trinity of independent City States: London (small section with Buckingham)
The Vatican
Washington DC
all three are completely independent of the country surrounding them. The Federal Reserve Bank is too.