Proposed FSA budget rise must be reversed
3 February 2012
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Prof Philip Booth comments on the FSA's recent announcement
Commenting on the proposed FSA budget rise of 15%, Prof Philip Booth, Editorial Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“This budget rise must be reversed. A generation ago, arguably the UK financial services industry had the best and most enduring forms of regulation in the world. This has now been replaced by a bureaucratic organisation that presided over the UK’s worst banking crisis. This is a monopoly that is able to set its own fees. A 15% rise is proposed for this year on top of huge rises in previous years – after this increase the FSA’s budget will have doubled in just six years.
“It is interesting that this increase is being announced at exactly the same time as the Stuttgart Bourse – a stock exchange that has to compete with other exchanges – is announcing a cut in its fees. Elsewhere, the costs of running government departments is being cut by 20% and the customers of financial services companies are suffering from cuts in real wages.
“Only the FSA could march on completely oblivious to the folly of more and more complex regulation at an ever-increasing direct and indirect cost to financial consumers.”
Notes to editors
To arrange an interview with Prof Philip Booth, IEA Editorial Director, please contact Stephanie Lis, Director of Communications: 020 7799 8909, slis@iea.org.uk
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“This budget rise must be reversed. A generation ago, arguably the UK financial services industry had the best and most enduring forms of regulation in the world. This has now been replaced by a bureaucratic organisation that presided over the UK’s worst banking crisis. This is a monopoly that is able to set its own fees. A 15% rise is proposed for this year on top of huge rises in previous years – after this increase the FSA’s budget will have doubled in just six years.
“It is interesting that this increase is being announced at exactly the same time as the Stuttgart Bourse – a stock exchange that has to compete with other exchanges – is announcing a cut in its fees. Elsewhere, the costs of running government departments is being cut by 20% and the customers of financial services companies are suffering from cuts in real wages.
“Only the FSA could march on completely oblivious to the folly of more and more complex regulation at an ever-increasing direct and indirect cost to financial consumers.”
Notes to editors
To arrange an interview with Prof Philip Booth, IEA Editorial Director, please contact Stephanie Lis, Director of Communications: 020 7799 8909, slis@iea.org.uk
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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