The FCA has been told to adopt a communications approach which steers clear of “sensational headlines where possible”.

MPs have outlined a series of recommendations to the regulator as part of the review into last year’s bungled media briefing, which led to £6bn wiped off the shares of insurance firms earlier this year.

It followed the handling of a key announcement on life insurance in March.

The Davis Review concluded the FCA’s reaction was "seriously inadequate" and fell short of the standards expected of those it regulates.

The regulator has fully accepted the criticisms and apologised for the mistakes it made. The problems arose from a briefing given to the media in advance of the official announcement.

This week the Treasury Committee published its own report, which stressed that “the FCA should take particular note of Simon Davis’ recommendation that it adopt a factual, evidence-based approach to communications, avoiding sensational headlines where possible”.

In its response to this point the FCA said: “We agree with the Committee’s recommendation regarding our approach and have taken particular note of Simon Davis’ comments (made in Paragraph 19.55 of his review). We have identified eight overarching principles that guide our communications approach.

“These are promoting understanding of the FCA, accuracy, transparency, accessibility, predictability, consistency, responsiveness and professional excellence. These principles encourage a factual, evidence-based approach and we are confident that our news releases, including our supporting materials - as well as our interaction with journalists - reflect this.”

The FCA has agreed with the committee’s recommendation that “the Board must, as a matter of urgency, commission an external organisation to conduct a review of its practices and effectiveness.”

The FCA said it will conduct an external review of its efficacy every other year and has already set up Dr Tracy Long of Boardroom Review to produce such a report this year. In between years it will carry out an internal review.

MPs also said the results of this review should be published, to which the FCA has agreed.

The FCA said: “The Board agrees that as a matter of good corporate governance it is important that its effectiveness is regularly reviewed, and has agreed it will do so on an annual basis.”