Trade in Services Agreement: draft Financial Services Annex

The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) was a proposed agreement on trade in services negotiated by a group of World Trade Organization members, with the United States and the European Union as its main proponents; The Guardian, citing Fairfax Media, reported 50 WTO members as involved. On 19 June 2014 I published the consolidated text of its draft Financial Services Annex, dated 14 April 2014.

The annex sets out rules on cross-border trade in financial services, the commercial presence of foreign institutions, transfers of information, new financial services, payment systems and prudential measures, with bracketed text showing proposals by individual parties. It was marked to be declassified five years from the agreement's entry into force or, if no agreement entered into force, five years from the close of negotiations.

Coverage in Australia focused on proposals that could give foreign banks greater access to the market and allow financial data to be transferred overseas; the trade minister, Andrew Robb, described the negotiations as a 'key focus' of government policy (The Guardian, citing Fairfax Media).

I did not identify our source. The text carries a US classification marking ('TISA- U.S.CONFIDENTIAL'). Partners listed on our release page are The Age (Australia), NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Ta Nea (Greece), Kjarninn (Iceland), L'Espresso and La Repubblica (Italy), La Jornada (Mexico), Dagbladet (Norway) and Punto24 and Tempo24 (Turkey).