FSA braced for bumper turnout at annual meeting

The Financial Services Authority has been forced to find a bigger venue for its annual meeting next month, after concerns that the spate of mis-selling scandals and the organisation's recent increase in enforcement activity may spark a record turnout.

The Financial Services Authority has been forced to find a bigger venue for its annual meeting next month, after concerns that the spate of mis-selling scandals and the organisation's recent increase in enforcement activity may spark a record turnout.

Last year's AGM was held at Cabot Hall, near the FSA's headquarters in London's Docklands, which has a capacity of about 400. However, this year's meeting, scheduled for 15 July, is to be held at The Brewery in the City, one of London's largest conference venues with a capacity of 869.

The larger venue was chosen after last year's turnout was greater than expected, sparking concerns that interest in the event may be growing exponentially as the FSA's profile increases. Last year, many Equitable members turned out to express their disagreement with the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, who said the FSA was not responsible for the failings at the troubled life insurer. More recently, the FSA decided not to ban Equitable's former chief executive Roy Ranson from the industry for his involvement in the saga, and elected to ban Chris Headdon, another former Equitable chief executive, for just six years. Equitable members have been angered in both cases and are expected to turn out in force to make their protest.

A spokeperson for the FSA said: "Every year more people come. As the FSA has become more established and better known, more people have wanted to come to the meetings. We are expecting a lot of company representatives as well as consumers."

Since last year, the FSA has again been criticised by the Treasury Select Committee, which at the end of last year referred to the regulator as "comatose".