Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex
2014-06-19
(en | es)
Today, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the Trade in
Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which covers 50
countries and 68.2%1 of world trade in services. The US and the EU are
the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint
changes, which also covers cross-border data flow. In a significant
anti-transparency manoeuvre by the parties, the draft has been
classified to keep it secret not just during the negotiations but for
five years after the TISA enters into force.
Despite the failures
in financial regulation evident during the 2007-2008 Global Financial
Crisis and calls for improvement of relevant regulatory structures2,
proponents of TISA aim to further deregulate global financial services
markets. The draft Financial Services Annex sets rules which would
assist the expansion of financial multi-nationals – mainly headquartered
in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt – into other nations by
preventing regulatory barriers. The leaked draft also shows that the US
is particularly keen on boosting cross-border data flow, which would
allow uninhibited exchange of personal and financial data.
