The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published its final fees and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) levies for 2007/8. The report showed that its finalised fee rates for the period were lower than originally proposed in February 2007. Several reasons are given for this, including higher than expected business volumes from firms and greater numbers of firms in certain fee blocks. In nearly all the fee blocks, increases in the minimum fee have been capped at three per cent.
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Graeme Ashley-Fenn, director of the FSA's Contact, Revenue and Information Management Division, said: “We are pleased to announce that the FSA fee rates are lower than those proposed in the consultation, but we recognise that any increase will concern some of our fee payers. The FSA's expenditure has increased this year, mainly due to higher Financial Capability and IT budgets and the cost of moving towards more principles-based regulation, but the investments being made will enable us to increase our effectiveness and help us to deliver our statutory objectives.
“We are committed to making it easier for firms to do business with the FSA, and firms will be able to use our online Fee calculator to get an indication of the fees they will actually pay."
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Kevin Paterson, managing director at Park Row Mortgages, said: “It’s obviously fantastic news for us as fees make up a huge part of our outgoings and any reduction of the fees, or if they remain static, will make a huge difference.”
