For the first time the FSA will see its annual budget break the £200m threshold starting from April this year in a move to improve efficiency.
The FSA will see its annual budget increase to £201.6m for the year starting this April.
A significant factor in this 2.2% increase in expenditure is employment costs that are budgeted at £7m more than in 2003. This is part of the FSA's drive to "attract and retain the quality of staff we need to achieve our statutory objectives".
Staff costs account for 68% of the organisation's overall budget. The external enforcement budget - for extra staff to be hired on special cases - has risen to £4.2m, from £2.3m in 2003.
FSA chief executive John Tiner commented that investment in staff and IT systems would make the organisation more efficient. Tiner said: "Fundamental to our approach is working with the forces in the market and intervening only when the market solutions are inadequate in the context of our objectives."
From April 2004 the FSA will take on regulation of general insurance brokers. This will mean a more than 50% increase in the number of firms under its scrutiny.
