An analysis by Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen of the leaked version of the draft agreement, along with a draft annex on financial services, has determined that the treaty poses ten key threats to common sense financial regulations.
"As governments around the world implement the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis by re-regulating financial firms to prevent another crisis, the leaked TiSA rules could require countries – including the world's largest financial centers – to halt and even roll back financial regulations," writes Ben Beachy, of Public Citizen.
The following are the ten most concerning threats TiSA poses to common sense financial regulation, according to Public Citizen:
1. Restricting even-handed policies that limit financial risk
2. Allowing consumers' sensitive financial data to be offshored
3. Requiring governments to predict all regulations that could at some point run afoul of TiSA's broad restrictions
4. Indefinitely barring new financial regulations that do not conform to deregulatory rules
5. Prohibiting capital controls used to prevent or mitigate financial crises
6. Requiring acceptance of financial products not yet invented
7. Outsourcing domestic financial regulation to foreign governments
8. Providing opportunities for financial firms to delay financial regulations
9. Prohibiting government preferences for domestic firms when safeguarding taxpayers' funds
10. Relying on a weak defense for challenged prudential policies
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in a statement:
"It is unimaginable that such an agreement is under negotiation while the global economy is still recovering from the most severe crisis since the Great Depression, and while Greece and other countries are still reeling from developments related to the crisis."
"To analyze the TiSA text is to see that negotiators are ignoring the lessons from the financial crisis, and to see how vital it is to shine a light on the secret TiSA negotiations. These leaks show that it is imperative for TiSA negotiators to suspend their efforts, publish all texts under negotiations and not resume until there is a proper public debate about their radical deregulatory maneuvers."
