Nearly 900 former FSA staff members have left its successor organisations since April 2013, it has been revealed.
Responding to Freedom of Information Act requests, the FCA and PRA revealed that, between them, 881 staff had left since moving over from the FSA.
The FCA said that since 1 April 2013, 704 of those transferred from the FSA had left.
According to the 108-page FCA Annual Report 2013/14, the watchdog made 59 compulsory redundancies in that financial year.
On the subject of redundancies, the FCA’s FOI response added: “The figure for the period 1 April 2014 to 16 September 2014 is 43.”
The PRA, part of the Bank of England, said it had seen 177 people leave since they transferred from the FSA, adding that none of these had been redundancies.
The FSA closed in 2013, with the FCA and PRA taking on its responsibilities.
While the FCA regulates the financial services industry in the UK, the PRA regulates and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms”.
Earlier this month the FCA drew praise from Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, for abandoning the “adversarial approach” of its predecessor.
Speaking about feedback from the latest rounds of regional conferences organised by the PFS, which were attended by more than 5,000 advisers, Mr Richards said the regulator had been praised for the content of its talks as well as for its approach.
He said: “As well as being impressed with the content, our members were quick to acknowledge a more constructive approach, and the willingness of presenters, Mark Goold and Rory Percival, to make themselves available and answer a range of questions.”
Adviser view
Stephen Osbiston, of Surrey-based Michael Robinson Associates, said: “If the staff that these organisations have lost are surplus to requirement, and they are streamlining their operations that is a good thing.
“Perhaps the FCA does not need as many staff as it had first envisaged to keep us in order.”
