International Trade in Financial Services and the Gats

Abstract

Many insurers and reinsurers continue to believe that the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) offers a route by which international trade in financial services can be significantly liberalised. The WTO Agreement on Financial Services provided the first ever set of worldwide rules for international trade and investment in financial services. In the current WTO trade round, the global insurance industry has drawn the attention of trade negotiators and regulators to the existence of barriers and the countries in which they are found. The barriers list was structured in the way so as to be aligned with the Financial Leaders Working Group's (FLWG) Proposal for a Model Schedule for Future Insurance Commitments by WTO members of 2001. The aim of the Model Schedule was to provide a proposed text for the use of WTO members in scheduling commitments under the framework of the GATS. Keywords: Financial Leaders Working Group (FLWG); financial services; General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); global insurance industry; international trade; Model Schedule; World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement