A state-appointed panel today proposed adopting a set of principles for regulating New York’s financial services industry that they said would streamline the state’s cumbersome system of oversight.

Members of a panel formed by the governor last summer to overhaul the state’s regulatory apparatus, the Commission to Modernize Regulation of Financial Services, said a principles-guided approach should be adopted to replace regulators’ current reliance on thousands of laws, many of which, they say, are outdated.

“Modernizing regulation of financial services is first and foremost about keeping New York the financial capital of the world,” Governor Spitzer, who once enforced the state’s regulatory system as attorney general, said today.

Under a principles-guided approach, a system that has been touted for driving financial growth in Britain and other European nations, regulators would interpret violations by focusing on outcomes rather than on the rules themselves.

The commission, made up of leaders in business, government, and consumer advocacy, also proposed replacing the four state regulatory agencies — the Insurance Department, Banking Department, State Department, and Attorney General’s Office — with one overarching agency.