Financial Services, the WTO and Initiatives for Global Financial Reform
Financial Services, the WTO and Initiatives for Global Financial Reform
This chapter examines the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in promoting the liberalization and globalization of financial services, along with its implications for global financial reform efforts. The financial crisis that began in 2007 has evoked various proposals for rethinking and reforming national and international governance and regulation of the financial sector. The general consensus is that reform of the financial sector, and a new global financial architecture, must include strong regulatory measures and their enforcement. In all these discussions, international trade and the trading system have figured, if at all, only somewhat peripherally—in terms of the effects of the credit crunch on trade finance and the need to resist “protectionist pressures”. The chapter first provides an overview of the WTO's 1997 Financial Services Agreement (FSA), part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It then considers the systemic reform processes being initiated in various forums to address the financial crisis, and argues that they are unlikely to succeed unless they involve the WTO and its ongoing Doha Round.
Keywords: liberalization, World Trade Organization, financial services, financial reform, financial crisis, international trade, trade finance, Financial Services Agreement, General Agreement on Trade in Services, Doha Round
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