In a policy statement confirming its regulatory fees and levies for 2012/13, the Financial Services Authority said the slight reduction from the proposed AFR would flow through evenly to all fee-payers, except for the 42% that only pay the minimum regulatory fee of £1,000.
The AFR is up from £500.5m in 2011/12 despite the FSA recognising the "difficult economic circumstances for many firms" and the regulator’s "commitment to keeping any essential cost increases to a minimum"
Larger firms will feel the increase more as fees are determined on the basis of activity, reflecting the resources applied to the intensive supervision of high impact firms.
The regulator said large banks would pay on average £20m because of their core business of deposit taking and investment banking, while general insurers will pay on average £2.4m and life insurers on average £5m.
Financial penalties received for 2011/12 totalled £70.7m, compared to an estimated £58.7m and this will also be discounted from the AFR, meaning the actual amount invoiced will total £489.1m.
The FSA said it had achieved reductions from the previously proposed sum by internal cost cutting from reduced IT spend and the return of contingency monies set aside for use only in the event the FSA needed to apply extra resources to deal with extreme macro-economic and regulatory events.
Firms will start to receive invoices next month and will be informed of fees timetables and billing arrangements.
