A golden gate for the already empty stable ?

The latest FSA rules will cost the City up to £1.4bn a year from now on, according to the regulator's figures.

Regulations consulted on and introduced over the past 12 months by the FSA will create compliance costs of £1.1bn to £1.4bn annually, according to figures compiled by Hargreaves Lansdown.

The figures are taken from FSA consultation papers from October 2010 to October 2011, which show the costs the UK's financial sector will have meet every year from now on.

Cost benefit analyses included in the papers also show the industry will have to pay total one off costs ranging from £253.2m to £323m.

Hargreaves Lansdown said the FSA has launched 18 separate consultations on changes to the law since last October.

The new measures cover areas such as capital requirements, data collection, the handling of consumer complaints and financial crime.

Not all the consultations will cost the industry money, but the wide range of costs have prompted fears smaller City businesses will be hit.

Hargreaves said it recognises the regulator must balance consumer protection with giving the financial services industry room to flourish, but was "surprised" at the range of one off and ongoing costs facing the industry as a whole.

So , money well spent ?

Well , the FSA were regulating the financial industry when the financial crisis started a couple of years ago so one has a sense of buying a golden stable door when the horse is already charging off down the road.

……………..as a dear old friend once said to me….” If you ban one make of aircraft from flying you won’t stop plane crashes”.