The Bank of England has vowed to slash "bureaucratic" red tape and unleash a "leaner, meaner" City with more appetite for risk.

Sam Woods, head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) - a part of the Bank that oversees the financial system - said the explosion of rules since the financial crisis has been "overcooked" and he is working to simplify the thicket of requirements bogging down businesses.

Speaking to the House of Lords financial services regulation committee, he said: "We have just come through a period where regulation has been expanding and changing a lot following the financial crisis. We are coming out of that phase.

"We have got more control over the rules because of Brexit, and we can stand back and look and say, we have built up all of this machinery over 10 or 15 years, are there some places where it is a bit overcooked?

"In many cases the answer to that will be yes."

It comes amid a drive by Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer to encourage pension funds to take more risks to invest more of their savers' cash in British companies and in infrastructure. The Chancellor and Prime Minister hope that this will boost economic growth, improve living standards and bolster the public purse.

Mr Woods' enthusiasm for deregulation apparently puts him at odds with Nikhil Rathi, chief of the Financial Conduct Authority. Mr Rathi last month warned that relaxing consumer regulations "will mean more things will go wrong over time."

Speaking to MPs in December, he said: "I don't know when, but sometime in the next few years, one or two more things will go wrong. But that is necessary to shift the risk appetite that the economy needs for growth."

The Bank of England has already changed its rules to allow bankers to receive bigger bonuses, amid fears that a European Union cap was too restrictive and had the unintended consequences of pushing up bank salaries - as well as making it harder to claw back pay from rogue operators.

On Wednesday, Mr Woods said that letting bankers receive bonus pay more quickly, instead of waiting for as long as seven years, will make the UK a more competitive place to do business.

He said: "We are proposing a very significant reduction in the length of deferral for bankers' pay which I think will be useful in terms of our role, particularly as an international financial centre."

Mr Woods called the move "pretty important for competitiveness".

He also proposed allowing insurers to invest in a wider range of assets without securing the Bank's approval first.