Andrew Tyrie (pictured), chairman of the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), has called for a ‘fresh approach to regulation’ following publication of its report into the objectives of new regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The report into the FCA, the successor to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has put forward a number of recommendations for the government’s consideration ahead of the drafting and publication of the Financial Services Bill this year.

The FCA will be responsible for regulating conduct in retail and wholesale financial markets.

However, Tyrie warned that the FCA must not become the FSA’s ‘poor relation’.

‘The FSA is not only expensive, for which the consumer always pays, but many have told us that it has also become bureaucratic and dominated by a box-ticking culture.’

Tyrie cited the FSA’s failure to protect consumers from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) and endowment mortgages.

He added, ‘Too often we’ve heard that the FSA is aloof and unapproachable and that, in any case, firms are nervous about approaching them – we must break with that culture.’

The TSC’s report has called for the government to put the promotion of effective competition for the benefit of the consumer ‘at the heart of the new regulatory framework’.

It also recommended that the FCA differentiate between retail and wholesale consumers and said that the level and type of protection required by an individual investor ‘will often be inappropriate for a major financial institution’.

This latest report from the TSC follows its two other reports into the new regulatory architecture that were published in February and November last year.