The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) posted losses of £58.3m for the year ending 31 March 2015, as a result of temporary costs associated with taking over the consumer credit industry regulation and an actuarial loss of £33.4m.
For the former, the FCA said it was principally caused by the timing delay between set-up costs incurred during the year of £30m for consumer credit activities and the recovery of those costs over a ten year period from 2016/17. It said: "This loss was anticipated due to the FCA’s chosen strategy for recovering such costs from its fee payers.
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These figures were revealed in the FCA’s annual report for the 2014/15 period.
The report also revealed a change in FCA strategy from many small fines, to fewer, but larger penalties
In the 2010-11 period, the FCA issued 83 fines, which came to a total value of £98.5m. By 2012-13, the number of fines had fallen to 51. However, the value of the fines had increased to £423.2m.
In the 2014-15 period there were just 43 fines issued, however this resulted in a total of £1.4bn being paid out.
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By GlobalDataElsewhere, the report said over 40% of consumer credit complaints related to credit brokers, and that 80% of these related to firms that charge upfront fees. In December 2014, the FCA published new rules on credit broking.
The FCA said: "Early analysis based on our own information, and that provided by consumer bodies, suggests that there has been a significant drop in complaints volumes and issues across the sector following our interventions."
