The Consumer Panel today called on the FSA and the financial services industry to acknowledge the benefits of regulation for consumers of financial services as the FSA publishes research carried out jointly with the Financial Services Practitioner Panel on the costs of regulation.

The Chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, John Howard said:

"The incremental costs of regulation appear to be not as high in each sector as some

had feared. It is not surprising that the report shows that there were higher incremental costs of regulation in the retail sector covering investment and pension advice. This is where improvements in regulation and compliance are being made and continue to need to be made. There is a history of misselling to retail consumers which needs to be rooted out, and the regulator is star ting to increase confidence in the sector. However, although senior management in firms seem to understand the importance of regulation, there is still a problem that on the high street, consumers continue to face poor advice and information which the regulator must do more to improve.

These figures seem to counter the argument that strong regulation will undermine business. Consumers who have confidence in a strong regulatory system will be more willing to invest, and an effective and efficient regulator appears to be an international asset, drawing more firms to the UK and also increasing the country's lead in financial services."

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