ABI defends industry against new regulations

The UK’s regulator of financial services should not be subject to major structural reform in response to the banking crisis, but should work to correct failures identified by the crisis, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). In a new report, which includes several recommendations for restoring market confidence, the ABI rejected a proposal by Sir James Sassoon to split the Financial Services Authority between its prudential and consumer protection functions — the so-called “twin peaks” model — arguing that reform on such a scale would be “distracting and disruptive”.