Detailling its main concerns for the year ahead, the regulator's 2008/09 business plan outlines a number of target areas which it will look into, such as firms' liquidity, adequacy of stress testing and their overall operational preparedness for unexpected events.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the FSA, said that it reflected current 'less benign' conditions and a desire to pay special attention to the lessons the regulator had subsequently learnt.
"Overall, there is much we at the FSA wish to accomplish and the Business Plan is correspondingly ambitious, although the uncertainty in the marketplace means we must be flexible and ready to reprioritise our plans, shifting resources should the need arise," he said.
"A successful regulator needs to be both nimble in its reaction to immediate events and determined in embedding, into its institutional memory, the lessons learnt from the past. I believe in executing this year's business plan the FSA will demonstrate these characteristics."
Unsurprisingly, 'Treating Customers Fairly' is also high on the FSA's list of key issues to tackle during the next financial year. It is also seeking to increase penalties dished out across the industry for failure to comply with standard practices.
The regulator will also publish a report on firms' systems and controls for managing the risk of consumers' personal data being lost or stolen, with feedback to the industry on good practice and areas of improvement.
