Liberalization of Financial Flows and Trade in Financial Services under the GATS

摘要

The recent global financial crisis has ignited an intensive debate on the policy space governments have to regulate their markets for financial services. In this respect, authors have examined the obligations contained in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) that could impose a limit on the possibility of Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to regulate these markets.1 Legal analysis of the GATS generally leads to the conclusion that this Agreement is very flexible and does not seem to prevent Members from adopting new and stringent measures in this area. WTO Members could thus impose higher capital requirements on financial institutions, limit the permissible exposure of these institutions to one and the same client, regulate remuneration schemes or restrict the reliance on securitisation activities.