Brussels, 25/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Finance Watch organisation, which defends citizens' interests against the financial industry, is concerned about the benefits of increased trade with North America arising from including financial services in the free-trade agreement, TTIP, currently being negotiated by the EU and the United States.
In a press release, Thierry Philipponnat, Finance Watch's Secretary General, says that the aim of including financial services in the TTIP will increase trade in financial services, with questionable benefits. He said that studies, including one by the Bank of International Settlement in March 2014, show that too great an increase in the share of a country's GDP taken up by financial services can damage economic development.
Finance Watch also criticises the secrecy surrounding the TTIP talks, which are to be discussed at the EU-US summit on Wednesday. The organisation says that citizens are rightfully suspicious about TTIP simply because we do not know what is at stake. It is not good for people to have to rely on leaked documents to learn what is being negotiated in their own name, it adds.
Finance Watch wants transatlantic regulatory convergence in the field of financial services, but says that a trade deal is not the right way of achieving this, as international organisations like the Financial Stability Board, the Basel Committee and IOSCO are already active in this domain. (MB)