By Steve Conley, Founder, Academy of Life Planning & Get SAFE Initiative
The quiet return of deregulation
When Paul Thwaite, the chief executive of NatWest, declared this week that the UK is “closer to the start than the finish line” in its mission to overhaul regulation, he wasn’t issuing a warning. He was celebrating.
And that should alarm us all.
Over the past twelve months, a quiet revolution has been unfolding in the City of London — not one of transparency or reform, but of relaxation. The so-called Leeds Reforms, backed by the Treasury and the Bank of England, are undoing a generation of hard-won safeguards introduced after the 2008 crash. Capital buffers are being lowered. Lending limits eased. Securitisation pathways reopened.
The official story is one of growth, competitiveness, and national renewal. But beneath that comforting narrative lies a deeper truth: the rules of the financial game are being rewritten once again — and the referees are looking the other way.
What “red tape” really means
Whenever politicians promise to “cut red tape,” they are not freeing ordinary people — they are freeing power from oversight.
In this case, “red tape” means consumer-protection laws, prudential supervision, and the duty of care owed by institutions to their customers. It means the very rules designed to stop the next mis-selling scandal or foreclosure wave.
The Leeds Reforms are not about empowering families to buy homes or businesses to thrive. They are about liberating the financial sector to take greater risks with other people’s futures, while regulators trade independence for proximity to power.
Every time we relax these controls, we are not fostering growth — we are mortgaging public trust.
The trade-off trap
NatWest’s Paul Thwaite spoke of “trade-offs” — between growth and regulation, between ambition and restraint. But that framing is false.
A society that must sacrifice fairness to grow is not growing at all; it is cannibalising itself. True growth emerges from trustworthy systems — those that protect savers, honour contracts, and ensure that wealth creation serves the many, not the few.
The moment we start seeing safety as an obstacle to progress, we have already lost the plot.
Why this matters for ordinary citizens
Every deregulation cycle follows the same tragic script:
- Loosen the rules to “unleash lending.”
- Create complexity so no one can see where risk resides.
- Privatise profits during the boom.
- Socialise losses when it all collapses.
Today’s “growth agenda” is the same playbook that led to 2008. Only this time, the public’s faith in oversight is weaker, and the watchdogs are more compromised than ever.
If you’re a homeowner, borrower, or small business owner, you are again being positioned as the liquidity source of last resort — the one who absorbs the shock when the system’s bets go wrong.
The regulators’ retreat
In theory, the FCA and PRA are independent guardians of stability and fairness. In practice, they have become partners in government’s “competitiveness” drive.
When watchdogs sit on the same panels as the institutions they are meant to police — when policy is shaped through private “taskforces” rather than public consultation — we no longer have regulation; we have regulatory capture.
That is why Citizen Investigators and Get SAFE exist: to rebuild the oversight that official bodies have abandoned.
Citizen Investigators: the new referees
Get SAFE trains survivors of financial exploitation to become their own investigators — to master the language of law, data, and evidence.
Each dossier built by a citizen investigator becomes part of a collective archive of accountability:
- tracing how policies translate into harm,
- exposing systemic failures,
- documenting abuses that regulators ignore.
Together, these micro-cases create a macro-map of how “deregulation” turns into “deresponsibility.”
When the referees look away, the citizens must learn to blow the whistle themselves.
A tale of two futures
We stand at a crossroads.
In one future, deregulation deepens, complexity grows, and trust collapses. The financial elite rebuilds its empire on the ruins of ordinary households — until the next crash forces yet another round of “reform.”
In the other, citizens reclaim agency. We democratise knowledge, decentralise power, and use technology like AI to create structurally trustworthy systems — where transparency, fairness, and shared prosperity are non-negotiable.
This is the future we are building at the Academy of Life Planning: a movement of Holistic Wealth Planners and Citizen Investigators who see finance not as a game to be won, but as a covenant to be honoured.
The call to conscience
If you’re reading this, you already sense that something is off — that “growth” should not depend on looking the other way.
Join us.
Learn how to read the system’s small print.
Build your own dossier of truth.
Become one of the new referees.
Because the rules of the game are being rewritten again — and this time, we will not sit silently on the sidelines.
Join the Movement
Become part of the next wave of Citizen Investigators using AI to uncover truth, restore justice, and rebuild trust.
Learn more at www.aolp.info/getsafe
Explore the Citizen Investigator’s Playbook
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About Get SAFE
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) is a citizen-led initiative that empowers victims of financial harm to investigate, document, and pursue redress.
Through AI-enabled training, structured playbooks, and collaborative fellowship, Get SAFE transforms victims into advocates — ensuring that truth and justice are not luxuries, but rights.
In One Sentence
Goliathon turns victims of financial exploitation into confident, capable citizen investigators who can build professional-grade cases using structured training, emotional support, and independent AI.
Instant Access
Purchase today for ÂŁ2.99 and get your secure link to:
- the training video, and
- the downloadable workbook.
Link to Goliathon Taster ÂŁ2.99.
If the session resonates, you can upgrade to the full Goliathon Programme for ÂŁ29 and continue your journey toward clarity, justice, and recovery.
Every year, thousands across the UK lose their savings, pensions, and peace of mind to corporate financial exploitation — and are left to face the aftermath alone.
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) exists to change that.
We’re creating a national lifeline for victims — offering free emotional recovery, life-planning, and justice support through our Fellowship, Witnessing Service, and Citizen Investigator training.
We’re now raising £20,000 to:
Register Get SAFE as a Charity (CIO)
Build our website, CRM, and outreach platform
Fund our first year of free support and recovery programmes
Every £50 donation provides a bursary for one survivor — giving access to the tools, training, and community needed to rebuild life and pursue justice with confidence.
Your contribution doesn’t just fund a project — it fuels a movement.
Support the Crowdfunder today and help us rebuild lives and restore justice.
Join us at: http://www.aolp.info/getsafe
steve.conley@aolp.co.uk | +44 (0)7850 102070
Academy of Life Planning 