NAO opens the lid on the FSA

It may not be the report that critics of the FSA were hoping for, but given its remit the NAO report has left few stones unturned.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has made several recommendations to improve the efficiency of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the first report of its kind on the regulator. The report, specifically instructed by HM Treasury to focus on how the FSA uses its given resources to carrying out its statutory duties, said the FSA should do more to pin down the costs of individual activities in regulated firms, improve the effectiveness of its resources for tackling financial crime and should also take the lead in developing the supervision of global financial services groups.