Regulation

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed details of its thematic review into the £902bn unit-linked funds sector - and said it is also looking into the annuity market.

The Financial Services Authority handed out fines totalling more than £400m in the last year before it was overhauled, a huge jump from previous years amid mammoth fines for banks over LIBOR failings.

Regulatory reform costs of the former regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) more than doubled in the last year of its operation and could in future be levied on firms, the FSA annual report has revealed today.

Staff costs at the regulator were £15.4m higher than budgeted for following its decision to make a one-off contribution of £22m to reduce its defined benefit pension scheme deficit.

Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Martin Wheatley received a remuneration package of £650,000 last year, it has been revealed.

The Treasury has taken control of LIBOR away from the British Bankers' Association and handed it to New York Stock Exchange following the rate rigging scandal.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is going in the right direction to becoming a "genuinely different" regulator and will put greater emphasis on competition, its chief executive Martin Wheatley has said.

Investors in the collapsed Arch cru fund range who sign up to a payment scheme set up by the funds' authorised corporate director, Capita Financial Managers, are in line to receive markedly less than forecast.

The government plans to scrap what it has branded the "failed" approved person regime in financial services and replace it with a new senior persons regime.

The Chancellor George Osborne is to back proposals for harsher punishments for bankers who act recklessly and lead to the collapse of financial institutions.