I suspect many in the regulatory community never expected to be readying to throw some of their carefully-crafted rules on a bonfire of red tape to boost business growth, but that’s exactly what they are being asked to do by the government which this week stepped up its efforts to demand regulatory reform to promote business expansion.

As Bob Dylan once sang, The Times They Are A-Changin', and he could easily have been singing this week about Labour’s new broom on financial regulation.

To be fair, Labour did talk about a desire to “unleash” British business before the election and many will say that post-Brexit 'UK plc' needs a hefty kick up the business backside.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves underlined this week that Labour means business with her ‘Plan for Change’ and that means cutting barriers to business growth and scaling back regulation which has grown inexorably over the past few years.

She nailed her colours to the mast this week by hauling in several regulators to ask them what they are going to do to remove barriers to growth. "Tear down the barriers," as she put it. The FCA will be dropping by soon.

She wants more done to push business growth and sees financial services sector as an area with huge potential for well paid jobs and growth.

The FCA has, of course, never been anti-growth. The FCA’s regulatory ‘sandbox’ - a test bed for new ventures - has already provided a worthwhile platform for over 600 firms to test their ideas and the fintech space in particular has lots of energy and promise.

However, what was most interesting this week was FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi’s promise to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves that he would, among other reforms, “revolutionise” financial advice.

Again to be fair, the FCA has been looking at removing a chunk of the rather strict advice-guidance boundary for some time. It looks like he’s serious about doing this sooner rather than later so expect some announcements as the FCA develops its own ‘pro-growth’ strategy.

The FCA has realised that with only 8% of people able to afford financial advice there are millions underserved or unserved by professional financial advice and potentially they are receiving little to no financial guidance. It's no wonder many millions keep their money only in cash.

Some financial providers are already chomping at the bit to launch cut-down or simplified guidance services which give consumers at least some help in choosing funds and other financial products. They may get their chance pretty soon and this could well spark a boom in new services, as Labour hopes.

The race to take the shackles off needs to be treated with care, however. Poorly written or rushed new rules (or the ditching of existing rules) - and not enough appropriate regulation - could easily be a passport to disaster.

We’ll see. 

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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a journalist with 40 years of experience in finance, business and mainstream news. This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks, usually on Fridays but occasionally other days.  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow @FPT_Kevin >Top Tip: Follow Financial Planning Today on Twitter / X @_FPToday for breaking news and key updates