The internationalization of financial services is a debate examined in this text, including relative benefits and costs of internationalization, to provide an insight into the diversity and significance of the effects of internationalization on domestic financial systems.

The collection of papers includes discussion on: the EU experience of internationalization; the political economy of internationalization; the legal/regulatory dimensions of internationalization; the financial services agreement of December 1997; the motivations for and effects of foreign entry on domestic financial systems; the relationships between internationalization and domestic financial reform and capital account liberalization; and case studies focusing on the effects of opening up the financial services sector in various countries. The papers collected in this volume arose from a World Bank funded research project, culminating in a conference, jointly sponsored by the World Bank and the WTO Secretariat, which took place in Geneva in May 1999.

1. Overview
S. Claessens, M. Jansen. I: Analytical Aspects and Trade Agreements. 2. Internationalization of Financial Services: A Trade-Policy Perspective
B. Hindley. 3. Financial Services and Regional Integration
M. van Empel, A. Morner. 4. Financial Services Liberalization and GATS
Y. Qian. II: The General Evidence. 5. Financial Sector Openness and Economic Growth
F. Eschenbach, et al. 6. How Does Foreign Entry Affect the Domestic Banking Market? S. Claessens, et al. 7. How Does Financial Services Trade Affect Capital Flows and Financial Stabilit
M. Kono, L. Schuknecht. III: The European Experience. 8. Lessons from European Banking Liberalisation and Integration
X. Vives. 9. The Impact of the Single Market Programme on EU Banking: Select Policy Experience for Developing Countries
E.P. Gardener, et al. 10. Consequences for Greece and Portugal of the Opening-Up of the European Banking Market
P. Honohan. 11. The Opening of the Spanish Banking System: 1985/98
J.M. Pastor, et al. IV: Experiences of Developing Countries and Transition Economies. 12. On the Kindness of Strangers? The Impact of Foreign Entry on Domestic Banks in Argentina
G. Clarke, et al. 13. Foreign Investment in Colombia's Financial Sector
A. Barajas, et al. 14. Foreign Entry in Turkey's Banking Sector, 1980/1997
C. Denizer. 15. Experience with Internationalization of FSP. Case-study: Hungary
J. Kiraly, et al. 16. Foreign Direct Investment in the Banking Sector: A Transitional Economy Perspective
L. Papi, D. Revoltella.