Get your cheque books out guys

The letter of the week on 25 June from David Barnett, among other good points, states that "The FSA needs to put its own house in order first, before changing the rules over and over again".

To be fair to the FSA, they are doing this. They have increased their supervisory staff from 526 to 703. This amounts to a 34 per cent increase in staff. Not many companies in the private sector who would actually have to pay for those staff would be doing that.

Why don't they either:

1. Sack the people who said that 526 staff was enough in the first place, or

2. Sack them all and employ another 526 people who are up to the job, with salaries 15 per cent higher. That would be a 19 per cent saving.

We are continually told by politicians that you will not improve the health service simply by throwing more money at it and I would suggest that in the same way you won't improve the FSA simply by throwing more people at it.

Is it a coincidence that fines at the City regulator have risen from £4m to £27m. Is that how they fund these extra people? If so, get your cheque books out guys, the fines are coming.

David Haig

Haig & Williams Financial Services

Poynton

Cheshire