WTO members offered to open up financial services
GENEVA (Reuters) - Several countries signaled a willingness to make significant openings in financial services during trade talks last week, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy said.
The intentions -- not firm offers -- were made during a "signaling conference" to indicate the possibilities of further liberalization in the services sector held last Saturday.
"In financial services, there were many indications of new and improved commitments. These positive signals appear significant, given the importance of financial services in supporting trade in other products and services," Lamy said in a report to WTO delegates dated July 30.
The current talks to secure a breakthrough in the WTO's Doha round collapsed on Tuesday, but the signals will give WTO members a better idea of what their partners are willing to do or what they expect when negotiations eventually resume.
The bilateral request/offer process in services negotiations had not produced any fresh offers since late 2005.
Under the terms of the conference, chaired by Lamy, the report does not name which countries made offers in the different sectors, from telecoms to transport, although it does list those who take part.
The developing countries comprised Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Uruguay as well as Asian tigers Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
In banking, several countries indicated a willingness to open up the cross-border supply of asset management for sophisticated consumers, advisory services and securities and underwriting.
Several participants intended to reduce or abolish restrictions on foreign equity in commercial presence, or operations opened abroad. Individual countries were willing to eliminate a depository requirement for foreign branches, widen the scope of securities trading and underwriting, or quadruple permitted branches.
Several also expressed an intention to liberalize areas such as derivatives, leasing, asset management, advisory and transfer of financial information and data.
In insurance one country offered to improve arrangements for cross-border supply and one to expand coverage to reinsurance brokers.
In commercial presence for insurance, one country signaled the removal of a joint-venture restriction and others indicated improvements in non-life insurance.
