The World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) sets out a framework and rules for the liberalization of international trade in services. Paragraph 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services is generally known as the Prudential Carve-Out (PCO). Notwithstanding GATS obligations, it allows WTO Members to pursue prudential regulatory objectives. This book studies the GATS PCO in light of its negotiating history and economic rationale as well as PCOs in all preferential trade agreements notified to the WTO Secretariat up to the summer of 2017. The author clarifies the state of play of international cooperation on financial services regulation; provides a current understanding of the GATS PCO; analyses how PCOs are drafted in preferential trade agreements and, finally, he seeks to understand whether alternative approaches to the mainstream understanding of the PCO are possible and suggests options for reform.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has been the leading force of trade liberalization in services. This article attempts to decipher the implications of GATS in financial services. It explains the schedules of commitments made by Member States, and the way countries engage in commitments in financial services. These are critical in understanding how the GATS rules are applied by each Member, and whether GATS has been effective.The so-called 'prudential carve out' is analysed in detail with consideration to the general prudential regime of the financial system since it has implications for the stability and integrity of the financial system. The article concludes with some policy analysis on how prudential carve out might be better implemented.

Paragraph 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services is generally known as the Prudential Carve-Out (PCO). Essentially, it allows WTO Members to adopt the measures they deem appropriate for prudential reasons, when regulating trade in financial services. The provision has not yet been interpreted in WTO dispute settlement proceedings. However, it is extremely relevant in light of the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the regulatory developments that ensued worldwide. Few scholars have looked into the issue and it seems to be their common view that the PCO has to be classified in the technical sense as being an 'exception' to the obligations and the commitments of the GATS. This classification leads to important interpretative consequences, mostly with regard to the allocation of the burden of proof in the event of a dispute. The main argument of this thesis is that the PCO should rather be classified as a 'provision that excludes the application of other provisions'. This alternative interpretation is more consistent with the negotiating history of the provision, the negotiators' intention, as well as the economic rationale behind it. Characterizing the PCO in this manner has different implications for the allocation of the burden of proof (which should therefore fall on the complainant and not on the defendant) and for the degree of deference that WTO judges have to pay to the rights and the prerogatives of the regulators in the domain of financial services. The thesis is divided into three main parts. Part 1 is devoted to the negotiating history and the current understanding of the PCO in the literature and in relevant discussions of WTO Members in the Committee on Trade in Financial Services of the GATS. Part 2 analyzes the PCOs in all Preferential Trade Agreements notified to the WTO Secretariat up to December 2014, highlights the main features and categorises the different models of PCOs that have emerged. Part 3 is dedicated to the new approach advanced by the thesis. The final section of this part suggests an agenda for a reform of the PCO of the Annex on Financial Services of the GATS, taking into account the developments that have occurred in trade negotiations at the preferential level over the last twenty years.

This note addresses the interplay of trade liberalization and financial services regulation -- namely the key issue of the United States' prudential regulation of financial services and its linkage to commitments made under the General Agreement on Trade in Services and free trade agreements. Focusing on the prudential carve-out exception present in the GATS, and nearly all of the United States' liberalization commitments, this Note suggests that the prudential carve-out is over-inclusive and thus well insulates the US from challenges to its prudential framework. This Note also argues that the United States is further protected from challenges to its national regulatory autonomy due to the political economy surrounding the WTO and its limited judgment-enforcing powers.

This article explores how the broadest spirited exception in the framework of the World Trade Organization, commonly referred to as the prudential carve-out, could be applied without adding to or diminishing the rights and obligations of WTO Members. It argues that through the customary rules of interpretation of international law, the only standard applicable to the prudential carve out is that of a reasonable means to ends connection. However, this broad standard of review can be enriched by expert knowledge on financial and prudential regulation, given that the form of dispute settlement established in the Annex to Financial Services of the GATS provides a window for dissecting the concept of "prudential". The AFS requires that an "expert panel" decide on controversies regarding financial and prudential issues, instead of the ordinary "highly qualified" WTO panel. The article draws on principles developed by the disciplines of micro- and macro-prudential regulation to exemplify how expert knowledge can guide an otherwise vague standard of review.

This book brings outstanding expertise and provides insightful perspectives from nineteen authors with diverse backgrounds, including officials from international organizations, national regulators, and commercial banking, as well as academics in law, economics, political economy, and finance. The authors not only shed light on the causes of the financial turmoil, but also present thoughtful proposals that contribute to the future policy debate, and discuss opportunities that financial services can offer in funding activities which raise standards of living through initiatives in microfinance, renewable energy, and food distribution. The contributions to this volume tackle several of the thorniest issues of financial regulation in a post-crisis environment, such as: the mechanics of contagion within the financial system and the role of liquidity; moral hazard when large financial institutions are no longer subject to the disciplinary effects of bankruptcy; bank capital requirements; management compensation; design of bank resolution schemes; a function-centric versus institution-centric regulatory approach; subsidization and compatibility of stimulus packages with EU rules on state aid; trade finance and the role of the GATS prudential carve-out; and the role of financial services in promoting human rights or combating climate change.

Banking Regulation and World Trade Law concerns the legal aspects of the interaction between banking regulation and international trade in financial services. The author studies the internal banking market of the European Union, the liberalisation of financial services trade in the World Trade Organization, the accords of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European Central Bank. The book focuses on the balancing between banking regulation and international trade law. It discusses discrimination and proportionality in national banking regulation, the allocation of prudential regulation and supervision between home and host country, and international financial law-making. The author questions decentralised/nation-based banking regulation and supervision as a foundation for a sustainable liberalisation of international trade in financial services. The book considers various reforms of the international financial architecture, such as the incorporation of the Basel processes and accords into the WTO system, and the setting up of new international institutions by building on the Basel Committees or the IMF structures. The role of central banking in designing the international financial architecture is also explored: the book reviews the ECB's competence over foreign exchange policy and its function as lender of last resort, and treats price stability, banking soundness and representation as critical concepts. The analysis also reveals that the concept of 'prudential', despite its extensive use in banking regulation, has not been defined with adequate precision. In seeking to delineate the interface between international economic law and banking regulation, Dr Panourgias builds on the rich European scholarship on institutional financial issues and the US interdisciplinary approach to world trade law. He also entertains the notion of international financial law as a distinct field. The book will be of particular interest to those concerned with financial law and international banking.