As insurers look to gain a more secure foothold in developing markets abroad, talks aimed at further opening the global arena may finally be moving forward.
"For the first time in many months, we're seeing what could be real progress in Geneva," in terms of negotiations within the World Trade Organization on liberalization of insurance regulations, said David Snyder, vice president and assistant general counsel of the American Insurance Association.
The U.S. government and others, he said, have made it clear that work cannot progress on agreements in other trade sectors–such as agriculture or manufacturing–without concurrent gains in the services arena, including insurance and other financial services. With that proviso, Mr. Snyder said that "if things go well, it could result in revised offers this year."
Effectively, Mr. Snyder said, negotiations toward an agreement on the services sector could move forward alongside those for manufacturing and agriculture. "Even though they would move on two separate paths, they would be roughly parallel," he said, with movement toward a common point of agreement.
He acknowledged, however, that "a lot has to happen" before any celebrating can be done, adding that some nations are still resisting. But, he said, "the odds are much better now than they were a few months ago" that progress will be made sooner rather than later.
Ultimately, Mr. Snyder said he expects progress because both sides will benefit from a more open trade framework.
Insurers will have "multibillion-dollar markets" made available to them, while developing countries would see a surge in new capital "that would help grow their overall economy as well as their insurance market," he noted.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.