Trade Policy Priorities for Financial Services

International financial service providers account for a key part of global services flows and have been a historic catalyst of services trade negotiations. Yet, countries today are reluctant to undertake deeper international commitments in financial services – a sector that is highly regulated and a key component of modern economies. Against this background, public debates witness an increasing divide over the desirability of financial services provisions in trade agreements per se. As a decade has passed since the worst of the global financial crisis, this roundtable provided a platform to take stock of the lessons learned and explore the opportunities and risks of financial services trade policy for a broad sustainability agenda. It is part of a series of CEP roundtables focusing each on a particular sector and seeking to explore trade policy priorities that strengthen the alignment of services trade with sustainable development objectives.

Speakers:

Kern Alexander
Professor
University of Zurich

John Cooke
Chairman
Liberalisation of Trade in Services Committee, TheCityUK

Juan Marchetti
Counsellor
World Trade Organization

Myriam vander Stichele
Senior Researcher
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)

Johannes Schwarzer (Moderator)
Fellow
Council on Economic Policies