With the chancellor’s Mansion House speech scheduled for tomorrow, the trade body has asked for ’strong, proportionate regulation’
Broker trade body Biba has called on UK chancellor Rachel Reeves to slash burdensome financial regulation for UK brokers ahead of her Mansion House speech, scheduled for tomorrow (15 July 2025).
In a letter sent to the chancellor, Biba said it was “time for world-class regulation for a world-class insurance market” as the government planned to unveil its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.
Graeme Trudgill, Biba chief executive, explained: ”The insurance broking sector is a £100bn British success story supporting jobs across the economy and directly employing more than 100,000 people.
”At the heart of a functioning market is strong, pro-market regulation with the interests of the consumer at the centre. Good, proportionate regulation is vital for consumer protection, encourages investment and gives customers peace of mind.
”If the regulator’s framework and remit is out of kilter, the consequences could be severe. Now is the time to stop the downward spiral on productivity, to encourage new firms to start up, and to persuade the smaller businesses that serve the local communities to stay in the sector.”
Recently published Biba research found that the cost of regulation was passed on to consumers in insurance premiums, with its data showing that 5.2% of insurance premiums collected were due to these expenses. This broke down as 3.3% for insurance brokers and 1.9% for insurers.
Trudgill also added that only two new general insurance brokers had been authorised to launch by the FCA in Q1 2025, while “over the same period, dozens threw in the towel”.
Resetting regulation
Rachel Reeves has made it part of the Labour government’s mission to cut red tape and regulation across various fields. In March, she met with the head of the FCA and other UK regulators as the government announced a “radical action plan to cut red tape and kickstart growth”.
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The FCA has responded too. In March, it announced that it had no intentions of taking forward proposed rules on diversity and inclusion at regulated firms and also clarified that it would not “name and shame” more firms it investigated, as originally planned.
At Biba’s conference, in May, the FCA also outlined plans to ditch what it claims are “outdated or duplicated requirements from its insurance rulebook” via the CP25/12: Simplifying the insurance rules consultation.
In the letter, Trudgill added: ”Now is the time, chancellor, for bold action – not just cutting red tape, but resetting regulation around a vision of a far more proportionate regulatory framework, where we reduce unnecessary complexity and encourage innovation.
“The FCA’s recent consultation on ‘simplifying insurance rules’ is a welcome start, but real growth demands a far more balanced rulebook and reasonable reporting requirements which do not hinder our everyday operation or our own ambitions for growth.”
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