Globalisation of Financial Services DOCUMENTATION

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Globalisation of Financial Services DOCUMENTATION DOCUMENTATION Globalisation of Financial Services Political Struggles, Experiences and Alternatives Documentation of an International Conference Bonn, Gustav Stresemann Institut December 2nd to 4th. 2005 Imprint Globalisation of Financial Services Political Struggles, Experiences and Alternatives published by: World Economy, Ecology and Development e.V. (WEED) www.weed-online.org Editor: Isabel Lipke Translation: Ann Stafford Layout: Alexander Kiehne Print: Pegasus Druck, Berlin WEED Office Bonn Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz 13 53111 Bonn Tel.: +49 - (0)228 - 766 13 – 0 Fax: +49 - (0)228 - 766 13 – 13 WEED Office Berlin Torstraße 154 10115 Berlin Tel.: +49 - (0)30 - 27 58 - 21 63 Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 27 59 - 69 28 [email protected] This Documentation was published with the financial support of the NRW-Foundation and the Commission of the European Union. WEED takes exclusive responsibility for the content. Bonn, April 2006. Table of Content INTRODUCTION 1 I ENFORCED MARKET OPENING: PLAYERS FROM THE NORTH - EXPERIENCES FROM THE SOUTH AND EAST________________________3 1.1 THE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF FINANCE CORPORATIONS LEADS TO 3 MORE POVERTY AND INSTABILITY IN THE SOUTH (WEED-SOMO Positionspapier) 1.2 PIONEER FOR “LIBERALIZATION”: ARGENTINA AND CHILE 8 (Lydia Krüger) 1.3 GO EAST: THE EXPANSION OF WESTERN BANKS INTO EASTERN EUROPE 11 (Hannes Hofbauer) 1.4 ENFORCED MARKET OPENING BY WAR: FOREIGN BUSINESSES AND BANKS IN IRAQ 21 (Karin Leukefeld) 1.5 FINANCIAL MARKETS LIBERALISATION AND BANK PRIVATISATION 26 IN KOREA SINCE THE ASIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS (Heykyung Cho/Thomas Kalinowski) 1.6 GLOBAL PLAYERS MADE IN CHINA: CHINA’S CHANGING 33 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (Simona Thomas) 1.7 RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE 11TH ANNUAL REGIONAL LABOUR 39 SYMPOSIUM ON “MORE TRADE – LESS JOBS” (Windhoek, Namibia, 6.-7. Dezember 2005) II FINANCIAL MARKETS: RISKS AND EFFECTS OF LIBERALIZATION__42 2.1 THE CONSOLIDATION OF GLOBAL BANKING INDUSTRY 42 (Kavaljit Singh) 2.2 GATS NEGOTIATIONS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: THE EU REQUESTS 50 AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (Myriam Vander Stichele) 2.3 INTRANSPARENT, UNCONTROLLED AND CRISIS PROMOTING: 57 TRADE WITH DERIVATIVES (Isabel Lipke) 2.4 OUT OF CONTROL - HEDGE FUND ACTIVITIES 62 (Lydia Krüger) 2.5 PRIVATIZING PENSIONS: EXPERIENCES FROM LATIN AMERICA 67 (Katja Hujo) 2.6 THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN PENSION SYSTEMS 72 (Martin Beckmann) Table of Content III LET YOUR MONEY WORK FOR DEVELOPMENT - BUT HOW?_________78 3.1 CODES OF CONDUCT FOR FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS 78 (Antje Schneeweiss) 3.2 ARE CODES OF CONDUCT THE SOLUTION? 80 (Florian Butollo) 3.3 BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. RATING AGENCIES AS 86 AGENTS OF SOLVENCY (Suleika Reiners) 3.4 INTERNATIONAL TAXATION, AN INSTRUMENT FOR 93 REGULATING GLOBALIZATION (Peter Wahl/Thomas Kalinowski) 3.5 STRUCTURAL POLICY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE 101 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SAVINGS BANK SECTOR (Stefan Gärtner) 3.6 SAVINGS BANKS - INDISPENSABLE FOR REGIONAL 110 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Verdi, Fachbereich Finanzdienstleistungen) Introduction 1 Introduction In recent decades foreign trade has be- countries. To achieve this and to secu- come increasingly important to banks, re international long-term expansion, insurance companies and investment the companies have to rely on their houses. A current study by UNCTAD respective governments or on interna- shows that companies such as Allianz tional organisations such as the World achieved more than two thirds of their Trade Organisation (WTO). The US turnover abroad, and the proportion is government as well as the EU, Canada, even higher for other insurance compa- Japan, Switzerland, and Australia are nies. According to estimates by Mercer especially active within the framework Oliver Wyman1 , the trade in financial of the WTO as well as in bilateral trade services will continue to grow rapidly agreements for the liberalisation of over the next years: from currently 2 trade in financial services - they have billion US dollars to 6 billions US dol- extremely competitive banks, insuran- lars in 2020. The highest growth rates ce companies and investment houses. are expected in the emerging market The EU alone has issued requests to countries such as China, India, Brazil, 85 WTO members to liberalise the fi- Mexico or Russia. The global financial nancial sector. However, developing market sector amounted to 15% in 2005 countries predominantly disapprove of and will continue its strong growth. further financial liberalisation. Never- theless, the financial sector is among The savings in Asian emerging market those services - besides tourism – for countries are especially attractive for which developing countries have made the financial sector; although India and most “commitments” - i.e. binding ob- China are still relatively poor countries. ligations to open the market. Even if only a small percentage of the population achieves prosperity in the- The liberalisation of trade in financial se countries, these represent a great services is a relatively new phenome- amount of people in absolute numbers. non: the Financial Services Agreement Meanwhile, there are 299,500 millio- was not adopted until December, 1997 naires in China - 4.3 percent more than - three years after the conclusion of the in the year before. About 70,000 mil- general services agreement (GATS) at lionaires live in India - 14.6 percent the WTO - coming into effect in March, more than in the previous year (Han- 1999. The agreement was celebrated delsblatt, 18.07.05). In addition, the as a great success in the financial press markets in the USA and Europe are sa- because of its “broadness”: 25 develo- turated to quite a considerable extent. ped countries and 77 developing coun- This is different in China and India, tries had made commitments to libe- because these countries have only re- ralisation that covered 95 percent of cently opened their financial markets. the entire financial services business. Since the General Agreement on Trade The trade in financial services must in Services (GATS) includes enhanced be “liberalised”, that are existing rules liberalisation, negotiations on further and regulations must be removed so concessions have taken place. that big banks, insurance companies and investment companies houses can Until now, negotiations on the libera- profit from the growing wealth in other lisation of financial services have not 1 see: www. http://www.merceroliverwyman.com/en/default.xml 2 WEED Conference Documentation drawn much attention from the scienti- these important and difficult interrela- fic side or from the global social justice tions and topics and to inspire various movement. This is all the more alar- participants to get involved in practical ming because the financial sector plays co-operation beyond the conference. In a key role in the financial stability of a conclusion, we would like to thank all country and the well-being of its popu- speakers and participants of the confe- lation. Liberalisation of this especially rence that enhanced an interesting pro- sensitive sector can have far-reaching cess of capacity building on the topic consequences. Additionally, dramatic of financial services and corporate re- changes have occurred during the last sponsibility with important steps. ten years: As a result of serious finan- cial market crises and IMF-controlled structural adjustment programmes, many emerging market countries and developing countries have opened their markets to trans-national financial cor- porations, have privatised former sta- te banks and often started to “reform” their social security systems. Conse- quently, the market share of trans-na- tional private banks and insurances has risen rapidly – and not always with po- sitive effects. To focus attention on the problems caused by the global expansion of fi- nancial corporations, WEED organised a conference in December 2005 at the Gustav Stresemann Institute in Bonn. The aim of this conference was, on the one hand, to increase the awareness of the great importance of a topic which only received little attention until now in circles discussing trade and deve- lopment politics. Furthermore, shortly before the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong, we wanted to attract the attention of decision makers from the respective ministries (BMWi, German Federal Ministry of Economics and Techno- logy) and international organizations (WTO, Committee on Financial Ser- vices) to the great risks involved in the liberalisation of trade in financial ser- vices. Finally, we wanted to extend our knowledge (and that of our guests) on The Global Expansion of Finance Corporations lead to more Poverty and Instability 3 I Enforced Market Opening: Players from the North - Experiences from the South and East 1.1 The Global Expansion of Finance Corporations leads to more Poverty and Instability in the South For some time, the liberalisation of fi- financial services sector in the coun- nancial services is being negotiated at tries concerned. The majority of liber- the WTO. Prior to the WTO Ministerial alisation requests refers to market ac- in Hong Kong, a new momentum has cess and freedom of establishment for entered the debate. Nearly every week, the transnational corporations from the EU trade representative Peter Man- North. They are to guarantee that there delsohn and his US colleague Robert are no trade barriers or obstacles re- Portman are imposing pressure on the maining that impede profit-making for countries of the South: Only if they transnational corporations.2 agree to a services deal – only if they open their markets
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