Tougher Rules Planned By Financial Services Authority For British Financial Sector

October 17, 2008 8:34 a.m. EST

London, England (AHN) - The Financial Services Authority will be stricter on the British financial sector to prevent a repeat of the current crisis in which the government had to inject billions of dollars into failing banks.

Lord Adair Turner, head of the FSA, admitted the authority was weak in dealing with the banking industry in the past. "There is no doubt the touch will be heaver. We have to make sure it is intelligent and focused on where the risks really are," Turner told Guardian Unlimited.

To strengthen FSA's regulatory function, Turner said the authority would hire more staff with an attractive compensation package to attract the right kind of people.

The FSA policy statement came as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Britain is not an ideal place to conduct business because of the country's weak anti-corruption laws.

The OECD had previously written the British government on summer that the U.K. had repeatedly failed to update the country's anti-corruption laws despite previous promises to do it.