City watchdog’s Brexit spend soars to £30m

The City watchdog has cranked up its spending on Brexit massively to £30 million and raided other budgets as the clock ticks down towards EU withdrawal, its latest business plan revealed on Monday.

“The high level of resource we need to dedicate... inevitably affects the amount of work we can undertake in other areas,” the Financial Conduct Authority’s chief executive Andrew Bailey said, “involving particularly rigorous scrutiny and challenge”.

The Brexit spend compares with a total of just £2.5 million in the FCA’s previous business plan.

This year the watchdog has taken £14 million from its enforcement budget by “reprioritising, delaying or reducing non-critical activity”.

But it has also hit financial companies with an extra £5 million in its annual funding requirement, up 3.2% overall to £543.9 million.

The body is also raiding its reserves for £5 million and charging specific firms an extra £6 million.

The FCA has a huge task setting up a new regulatory framework post-Brexit as well as advising the Government on the potential impact, so the final bill is likely to rise further.