The study evaluated the commitments made by a major sample of APEC member countries in the Financial Services Agreement (FSA) negotiated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The study also distinctly analyzed the actual practices in the financial services sector across the same major sample of APEC member countries placing emphasis on the level and extent of foreign participation in the domestic financial services sector. The evaluation of the commitments and the actual practices involved the estimation of the frequency-based index as an indicative measure of the extent of market openness in actual practices and binded commitments across a major sample of APEC member countries. Drawing on crucial issues pertaining to the deregulation and progressive liberalization of financial services trade, the study listed possible areas of negotiation strategies and proposals which Philippine negotiators can pursue in the next round of services negotiations, particularly in the financial services sector.
