Treasury tries to reassure insurers

Mark Hoban, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, last night moved to ally fears among leading insurers that they will be caught up in a regulatory backlash following the financial crisis.

"I am of course acutely aware that insurance companies are not banks," Mr Hoban said in a speech to an event organised by the Association of British Insurers. "Insurers did not play the same role as banks in the financial crisis and UK insurers came through the crisis relatively unscathed. It's not appropriate to apply the same regulation across all financial services indiscriminately."

Mr Hoban's comments follow proposals from the International Monetary Fund earlier this year that insurers should be subject to the same new taxes as the banking industry. Insurers are furious at the prospect of the new levies, but the IMF warned that banks might otherwise seek to become insurers.