In the process of the GATS negotiations, the EU has been making requests to many developing countries to liberalise its financial services sectors. Liberalisation under GATS means more than market opening for services by foreign financial firms (banks, insurance companies, pension fund management, mutual funds, etc.). GATS is mainly about giving foreign service providers, including the financial industry, more freedom to invest so that foreign services can be provided. This means that GATS is more than trade in financial services and that GATS is also an investment agreement!