The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is consulting on plans to increase fees that regulated firms have to pay for the 2015/2016 financial year. The fees are used to cover the cost of the FCA’s regulatory activities, with fees for individual firms based on the areas of business they undertake. The FCA’s annual funding requirement is now £481.6m, up 8.4 per cent from £446.4m. This means that some 38 per cent of regulated firms will pay a higher minimum fee of £1,084. This is an increase from £1,000 and the first rise since 2010. The regulator will use new funding to deliver the programme of work set out in its 2015/2016 business plan. This will include its reviews of unsecured debt collection and debt collection agencies (DCAs), along with its work on pensions and a market study into competition in investment banking.....Read more here