In his first speech as chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Mr Tiner said he would set up an expert panel tasked to draw up a strategy for educating consumers about how savings products work.

The panel is to report by 31 March next year.

Mr Tiner said raising consumer awareness would help the market for financial services function more effectively, and would reduce the need for onerous new regulations.

"Firms and consumers have a mutual interest in the market working better, and this means having more capable and confident consumers who can identify their needs and then know what to do about them," he told guests at a Corporation of London dinner on Tuesday night.

"The prize here is very great indeed. If capable consumers acting collectively can be a more influential force in the market, there could be a consequently less rigorous regulatory regime."

Reassurance

Consumer confidence in financial services has been shaken over the past few years by a series of failed investments which left thousands of savers nursing heavy losses.

These include the widespread mis-selling of endowments, the near-meltdown of life insurer Equitable Life, and the collapse of some split-capital investment trusts - products that were frequently marketed to consumers as low-risk.

The recent share price slump has also deterred many consumers from putting their spare cash into stock market-linked products.

That is why it was vital the FSA acted to shore up consumer confidence, Mr Tiner said.

He told BBC Radio 4: "I think there's a lot that can be done to get through to consumers that they need to take responsibility.

"They need to work themselves at understanding more about financial services so they can take care of their own future affairs."

But he promised the planned moves would not lead to more small print for consumers to wade through.

"I don't think we want to burden the consumer with a lot of technical detail."

Streamlining

The FSA's commitment to ensuring businesses treat customers fairly should be "embedded in firm's businesses from the top to the bottom", he told Today.

"We will be putting increasing pressure and supervision onto firms themselves... I think there'll be more intensive supervision."

In his Tuesday night speech, Mr Tiner said the FSA has already begun work on a method of assessing the risk to consumers of new investment products being launched by financial service providers.

He also promised a more streamlined regulatory approach, saying the FSA would aim to halve the number of consultation and discussion papers it puts out next year.

Mr Tiner, formerly the FSA's managing director, took on the newly-created chief executive role after former chairman Sir Howard Davies stepped down.