Financial Services Authority

The United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an independent non-governmental body that regulates the UK financial services industry. The FSA was created by the UK chancellor of the exchequer on 20 May 1997, and given statutory powers on 1 December 2001 by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The Financial Services and Markets Act imposed four statutory objectives upon the FSA:

• market confidence: maintaining confidence in the financial system
• public awareness: promoting public understanding of the financial system;
• consumer protection: securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and
• reduction of financial crime: reducing the extent to which it is possible for a business carried on by a regulated person to be used for a purpose connected with financial crime