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US, UK want financial services as part of trade pact
The United States and the UK aim to include financial services in a proposed free-trade agreement between Washington and the 27-nation European Union, the British ambassador to the United States said on Thursday.
Bank in push for a single monetary unit
African Development Bank is stepping in to help East and South African region accelerate the push towards a common currency status. To achieve this, it has drafted a stringent set of financial guidelines to steer the process.
India, Mauritius to meet next month to review tax treaty
India and Mauritius will meet next month in the capital to review the bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) which seeks to prevent misuse of the provisions of the near three-decade old treaty.
New free trade agreements threaten financial reforms
While financial reforms are ongoing in the EU and many other countries, little attention is paid to free trade agreements that continue to liberalise financial services as well as restrict regulatory freedom (‘policy space’) and controls on capital movements.
Colombia FTA with EU may increase money laundering: Report
A free trade pact between the EU, Colombia and Peru will increase the risk of illegal money flows and capital flight, said a report Wednesday from a group of Members of the European Parliament.
BoT expert wary over TPP
Thailand’s negotiations with the US for the opening of the goods and services market under the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) could hamper the Bank of Thailand’s regulations on capital flows and financial services, a central bank economist says.
KTB welcomes TPP talks, ties with US
Amid concerns over whether the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will benefit Thailand or not, state-owned Krung Thai Bank (KTB) is looking forward to greater business opportunities with American banks.
EU-Singapore FTA to be concluded
The EU-Singapore FTA will provide a basic template for the EU FTAs with other ASEAN governments, although perhaps not an exact duplicate, due to agriculture being a less sensitive issue for trade between the EU and Singapore.
Minister targeting top Swiss banks’ ’new business units’
Bahamas’ Minister of Financial Services is this week aiming to encourage three of the largest Swiss private banks to domicile “new business units” in the Bahamas, under the auspices of a new deal under the EU EPA.
Financial services to be kept out of SAFTA talks: Government
The government has decided to exclude financial services from the SAARC agreement on trade in services, following strong objection from the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI. The central bank has argued that India has already allowed access to foreign banks under the World Trade Organization agreement.
Proposed Indian tax rule could impact free trade talks with the EU and Canada
The government proposes to levy a heavy retrospective tax on some international mergers that would allow it to tax any overseas merger dating back to 1962 when an underlying Indian asset was transferred.
More than 100 economists call for Trans-Pacific trade deal to allow capital controls to prevent crises
In advance of Trans-Pacific trade talks, over 100 economists are sending a letter today urging negotiators to promote global financial stability by allowing the use of capital controls.
Asean beefs up cooperation in finance, trade
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is beefing up various frameworks for cooperation and development within the region and with its trading partners, in preparation for regional economic integration by 2015.
Capital controls and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
US negotiators are hardliners against capital controls in current Trans-Pacific trade talks with eight other countries.
The alarmingly uneven deal of the India-EU FTA
For over four years now, India has been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) - the largest trade and investment deal the country has ever embarked on. As much as New Delhi expects to lure the European market and investments closer to India, the actual consequences for the country’s economy could be dire: the open up of public procurement, the deregulation of the banking, automobile, retail and mining industries plus the adverse impact the deal will have in small-scale farmers make of this FTA a counter-productive undertaking.
UNASUR protects the region against the international crisis
The Union of South American Nations resolved today to put in place a six-point Plan of Action to protect the region from the international crisis that is shaking Europe and the United States.
Trading our future: Tax cheating and the Panama free trade agreement
From World War II until NAFTA, US trading policies were based on geopolitical needs and what would increase prosperity for America. Since NAFTA, however, the mantra of free trade has been warped to generate rights for international capital and nothing else.
US investors seek hassle-free entry into Indian economy
Officially, the mission of Pranab Mukherjee’s just-concluded trip was to attend the second annual meeting of the India-US Financial and Economic Partnership. The finance minister brought with him perhaps the most star-studded Indian economic team to visit Washington for a bilateral event.
EU urges Indian government not to make mandatory for European banks to dilute stake to 74% in subsidiary
The European Union has sought concessions for its banks if they are asked to migrate to the wholly-owned subsidiary model proposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Trading away financial stability: Capital controls and the US-Colombia trade agreement
Kevin Gallagher demonstrates that the "reworked" US-Colombia agreement has not been reworked to reflect the need to ensure that nations have the ability to prevent and mitigate financial crises.