You gotta love those good old boys over at UK market regulator The Financial Services Authority (FSA). Every time there's a crisis they come out and up the salaries for their staff in order to attract the City's best. Talk about closing the stable door after the horse has bolted! Wouldn't it be better to hire the brightest and best in order to ensure that a crisis doen't occur in the first place ?!

Anyway, The Daily Telegraph reports that the FSA has upped its budget and plans to hire 100 more staff with a financial markets background. A spokesperson was quick to say, however, that salaries wouldn't be directly comparable to those paid in the City proper.

Sounds like a great plan - up salaries to attract in City talent in the wake of a crisis which revealed what most of us knew for years (the FSA is in reality a graveyard for City talent; most go there to put their feet up before they retire). But even then, when you up the pay, you still don't pay the going rate - so the only folks you'll attract are those who can no longer cut it in the real world, or were the very ones who where partly responsible for the last crisis in the first place! Is it April Fool's Day, or something ?

READER COMMENT:

1. 'Firms moan when their FSA 'levy' is raised, but can't see that more and improved regulation would result in fewer losses, less scandals and a financial markets industry with a whole lot more credibility'.

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