Insurer regulation costs hit £730m

The City law firm said that the direct cost of regulation to insurers has now hit an average of 1% of gross written premiums.

Steven Francis, partner and head of financial services regulation at RPC, commented: "This figure is quite astonishing considering it only accounts for the direct costs of regulation, such as salaries for compliance workers and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) levy."

"The UK government needs to guard against European and UK regulators heaping extra costs on the