This is the first case under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to be heard under Chapter Fourteen, devoted to cross-border investment in Financial Services. As spelled out in more detail in the Decision on the Preliminary Question in this case, the architects of the NAFTA were aware that the Governments of each of the State Parties regulated in considerable detail the activities of financial institutions engaged in securities transactions, insurance, banking and related activities. These regulations were often of a macro-economic character and involved prudential considerations of various kinds.