The financial services practitioner panel has welcomed the FSA's business plan and budget for 2005/06.

The panel said the FSA had taken positive steps to address some of the concerns that had been raised in its survey of regulated firms which was published in December.

The panel's chairman Jonathan Bloomer, said: “While the overall cost of the FSA has increased, it is important that the industry views this in a properly strategic manner.

“The key for us is that the FSA's expenditure appears to be focused on the things that will matter most, and would ultimately have impact on practitioners and the operation of the marketplace in general.”