(April 10 – 18:05 ET) – The federal Department of Finance has unveiled its initial proposal for negotiating international trading of financial services within the WTO.

Liberalizing financial services trade can contribute to the strength of domestic financial systems in many ways, says Finance in a prepared statement.

“It can strengthen the capital base and promote state of the art management practices in financial institutions, and improve credit quality control and risk diversification. It also encourages domestic capital market innovation that may help channel foreign and domestic savings to productive investments. In addition, by encouraging transparency and the efficient flow of related financial data and market information, liberalization enhances the functioning of this sector.”

Finance supports maintaining the practice of having distinct negotiations regarding financial services. It also supports using the WTO Committee on Trade in Financial Services as the forum for these distinct
negotiations.
-IE Staff