Regulatory reform costs of the former regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) more than doubled in the last year of its operation, an annual report has revealed today.

And the report has also warned that in future the costs may be levied on firms.

The costs of regulatory reform to the regulator reached £28.7m in the year to 31 March 2013, compared with £11.4m in 2012, according to figures published in the FSA’s last annual report.

The report covers the final year of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), from April 2012 to the end of March 2013, when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) came into being.

From April 1st, 2013, the FCA took over responsibility for the supervision of conduct of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

In explaining the doubling in costs, an FCA spokesperson said: “These are one-off costs that are purely associated with the move from the FSA to the FCA and PRA. That regulatory implementation is not something that happens every year. I would not expect to see the costs grow year on year in the future.”

However, should the costs continue, the regulator admitted that they are likely to be included in the regulator levy, and split across the fee blocks of the affected firms.

The associated costs included work on the transfer of consumer credit, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).