Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith, has committed to addressing concerns around the advice and guidance boundary, also confirming that the Financial Services and Markets Bill is expected to be on the statute books "around Easter".

Speaking at the Association of British Insurers’ (ABI) annual conference, Griffith stressed that while the advice/guidance boundary is a "thorny" issue, he is keen to be able to have a broader range of products that people can access with guidance, not fully baked advice.

He stated: "We're having a good look at that, and that's not code for we're just like looking at that and filing that away, that problem is fully understood.

"I agree with that problem statement that, through well-intentioned regulation, we've lifted that level of what constitutes advice out of reach of millions of people who would benefit from that and that that cannot be a good outcome of a regulatory system.

"It is thorny. Someone's got to decide where to put that watershed. It is a little bit about your attitude to risk in the system and some of the compensation mechanisms in the financial services sector.

"We have got to be very cautious that we don't end up with a well-intentioned desire that suddenly ends up in lots of downstream liabilities for part of the sector through the financial compensation schemes.

"That's not a definitive answer, but it is a commitment that it that is absolutely something on my agenda."

When pressed for a timescale, Griffith stated that he couldn't "put an artificial timeline on it", noting that there is a "busy programme of work" ahead, including around 30 measures included in the Edinburgh reforms.

"What we've actually got to do is take those measures and put the many of them in law through the financial services and markets bill, which will be on the statute book about Easter time, and then that will unlock delivering those reforms. So it's somewhere in that mix."

Addressing the Edinburgh Reforms more broadly, Griffith stated: "For financial services, taking back control of our rule book from Brussels has given the UK a unique opportunity and a moment in time to do things differently: To be the world’s most innovative, open and competitive global financial centre.

"Our Edinburgh reforms take that ambition forward. It is a comprehensive package touching many of you here.

"Reforming bank ring fencing, holding the regulators to account for improving the speed of authorisations, reforming MiFID streamlining the senior manager regime and removing the pensions charge cap. Just some of around 30 measures to make us more competitive.

"The common theme here is that this government has a philosophy of regulation which is simple and proportionate."

Griffith also addressed queries as to how the government can ensure that there are clear metrics to assess the regulators performance against the new secondary objective in the financial services bill, suggesting there may be some areas where the pace could be improved.

He stated: "Well, there's, I mean that's a very good. Area of focus. I mean tell. Tell me what you think the objectives should be. By all means we have I've both written to the regulators already saying that

"The pace of authorisations, for instance, these are the things that they do repeatedly, and it is an issue if those take too long.

"That is a point that I've made to the regulators, in fairness, that's something they are very focused on - I've had that assurance.

As part of the bill, we will be taking powers to get the regulator, much as all of you do, to report quarterly to us and you transparently how they're doing against those those targets."

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