Barriers to Trade in Financial and Insurance Services: Evidence from the United Kingdom

Author/Editor:

Jiri Podpiera

Publication Date:

October 29, 2021

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

Distance, as a proxy for trade barriers, is found in many studies to matter even for weightless cross-border financial investments and lending, possibly due to the presence of information asymmetries. Its importance is tested in this paper using exports of all five broad categories of the U.K.’s financial and insurance services. No trade barriers are found for the bulk of the U.K.’s exports. Trade barriers are confirmed only for interest-bearing activities – being in line with available results in the literature. The positive effect of EU membership appears to be small. Notwithstanding the uncertainties, it suggests that post-Brexit disruptions of the U.K.’s export of financial and insurance services may be minor.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2021/260

Subject:

Frequency:

regular

English

Publication Date:

October 29, 2021

ISBN/ISSN:

9781616350291/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2021260

Pages:

21

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