Banking Regulation and World Trade Law: GATS, EU and Prudential Institution Building

This book covers the legal aspects of the interaction between banking regulation and international trade in financial services. The author studies the internal banking market of the European Union, the liberalization of financial services trade in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the accords of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and the European Central Bank (ECB). The book focuses on the balancing between banking regulation and international trade law. It discusses discrimination and proportionality in national banking regulation, the allocation of prudential regulation and supervision between home and host country, and international financial law-making. The author questions decentralized/nation-based banking regulation and supervision as a foundation for a sustainable liberalization of international trade in financial services. The book considers various reforms of the international financial architecture, such as the incorporation of the Basel processes and accords into the WTO system, and the setting up of new international institutions by building on the Basel Committees or the IMF structures. The role of central banking in designing the international financial architecture is also explored. The book reviews the ECB's competence over foreign exchange policy and its function as lender of last resort, and treats price stability, banking soundness, and representation as critical concepts. The analysis also reveals that the concept of 'prudential', despite its extensive use in banking regulation, has not been defined with adequate precision. In seeking to delineate the interface between international economic law and banking regulation, Dr. Panourgias builds on the rich European scholarship on institutional financial issues and the US inter-disciplinary approach to world trade law. He also entertains the notion of international financial law as a distinct field. The book will be of particular interest to those concerned with financial law and international banking.