The London Market Group which co-represents the insurance sector worth an estimated £60 billion has warned that applying the same Financial Conduct rulebook that banks adhere to, particularly following the collapse of Lehman brothers in 2008, is causing concern amongst insurers and underwriters. Arguing that insurers are not banks and do not act in the same way, Mr Hearn, chairman of the London Market Group (LMG) commented “It is illogical that we are applying a rulebook of what may be perfectly sensible requirements for banks which insurers have to apply in the same way.

“That can’t possibly make sense. We are not banks and we do not present the same set of risks.”

According to a report in the Evening Standard, the fear is that the world centre for insurance that is London could lose out to other markets such as Bermuda (London is more than twice the size) and Switzerland, which London is three times as big.

Business advisers Boston Consulting were commissioned by the LMG to write a report on this subject, which is being seen as an attempt to raise the insurance industry’s profile and end its “Cinderella” status in the City. The City Insurance sector employs almost 50,000 people and accounts for about a fifth of the Square Mile’s GDP.

Hearn also advised the industry needs help from the Government to compete with new centres such as Singapore, which are servicing the fast-growing Asian economies and it estimates that as much as 40 per cent of the premiums written in the London market are in danger of being captured by new local or regional hubs.

This part of London has developed a unique ecosystem of brokers and underwriters literally within a five minutes’ walk of the Lloyd’s building in Lime Street, built over more than 300 years.

Interesting risks insured in London include famous boat The Titanic,), Bruce Springsteen’s voice (for £3.8 million), Formula 1 drivers (for up to £32?million each.) and the jewellery worn by Hollywood stars on the red carpet at last year’s Oscars ceremony (for £17?million)

Over complicated regulation could signal the end of cheap probate home insurance / cheap empty home insurance, cheaper taxi insurance or cheap minicab insurance in London to name but a few.