John Cooke – Co-Chair, Liberalisation of Trade in Services (LOTIS) Committee, TheCityUK
John Cooke is an independent international trade and development professional with long-standing influence in global financial and insurance services policy, particularly in the liberalisation of trade in services.
He currently serves as Chair of the Liberalisation of Trade in Services (LOTIS) Committee at TheCityUK, a role he has held since 2010. In this position, Cooke works with senior industry leaders, policymakers, and international institutions to advance open markets for financial and professional services, with a focus on regulatory coherence, cross-border trade, and market access.
In parallel, he has chaired the LOTIS Committee at International Financial Services London since 2006, giving him nearly two decades of continuity in shaping the UK financial services sector’s international trade agenda across multiple political and regulatory cycles.
Cooke spent much of his career developing strategies to expand UK services exports through multilateral and bilateral negotiations. As Chair of the Liberalisation of Trade in Services Committee at TheCityUK, he coordinated engagement between industry leaders and government departments. His work built on earlier service in British government policy units dealing with trade and regulatory affairs, particularly in the context of the European Union Single Market.
Earlier in his career, Cooke served as Head of International Relations at the Association of British Insurers from 1997 to 2003. In that role, he represented the UK insurance industry in international trade negotiations, regulatory dialogues, and multilateral forums, helping position insurance as a central component of global services trade.
Across these roles, Cooke has built a reputation as a policy practitioner rather than a theorist. His work consistently sits at the intersection of insurance, financial services, trade liberalisation, and regulation, with emphasis on pragmatic frameworks that allow markets to function across borders while maintaining regulatory credibility.
He has specialized in the intersection of regulation and international commerce – advocating for transparent, rules-based frameworks to support services trade liberalization. Cooke’s contributions include advising on the implementation of World Trade Organization (WTO) disciplines for services, and guiding UK stakeholders through the implications of trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
