Writing in The Sun, Mr Rees-Mogg told readers: “I implore you all to write to me with the regulations you want abolished — those which make life harder for small businesses, which shut out competition, or simply increase the cost of operating.” Since Brexit, the financial sector has been looking for ways regulation can be improved after many old EU rules were copied over after the UK left. A spokesperson for lobby group UK Finance told Express.co.uk: “Now that we are outside the EU, the UK has the opportunity to tailor its regulatory rule book to its own strengths whilst continuing to champion high standards. There are a number of important ongoing consultations looking at changing the current financial services regulations and UK Finance has been closely involved on behalf of our members making the case for proportionate and agile reform.”
Two reviews already put into action are listing rules by Lord Hill and Ron Kalifa, looking at ways to make it more attractive for companies to list on UK stock markets.
UK Finance has welcomed the proposals, which came into force at the end of 2021, saying they will “positively contribute to the UK’s world-leading reputation”.
A future piece of regulation Mr Rees-Mogg could add to his list is Solvency 2, which governs the amount of money insurance companies are able to invest.
David Otudeko, head of prudential regulation at the Association of British Insurers, told Express.co.uk: “Brexit provides an important opportunity to review Solvency II, particularly to seize the chance to enable our sector to provide further investment in the UK’s economic growth and transition to net zero.
Speaking at a UK Finance event this week, Jonathan Reynolds said: “When I was ever asked ‘what do you think a potential benefit of Brexit might be’, I would often cite Solvency II as something we could have done better.”
Another piece of regulation earmarked for improvement is MiFID 2 which puts additional costs on companies carrying out investment research.
The FCA has already begun some reform of this with an exemption put in place for smaller companies, however there have been suggestions that this should go further.
This was put forward to the Government at a meeting of tech firm bosses hosted at Downing Street last week as a way of improving market research for companies.
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One attendee, CEO of PensionBee Romi Savova, told Express.co.uk: “You can have wonderful British companies, you can have companies doing amazing things, and no one will hear about it because there simply isn’t enough research.”
While there is clearly opportunity for extensive reform, some have cautioned at how best to approach it.
Financial lobby group TheCityUK said it didn’t want to see a bonfire of regulation, pointing out the UK had been involved in shaping a lot of current rules originally.
A spokesperson for the group added that some change was still welcome though such as the reviews to listings rules and Solvency 2.
They added: “We are supportive of this considered and transparent approach which recognises that the quality and high standards of UK regulation is a critical positive selling point for the UK as a leading global financial centre. “
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