The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has boosted funds available for future criminal prosecutions in its budget for 2009-10.

The regulatory body has increased its contingency fund – which includes an allowance for external legal costs if it chooses to prosecute major criminal cases – to £13.5m to act as an allowance for future prosecutions. The allocated funds comes out of the FSA's corporate services and board budget, which has seen a 67% increase on last year, from £47.2m to £79m.

In 2007, the FSA launched its first criminal prosecution for insider trading against former TTP Communications general counsel Christopher McQuoid.

The FSA said: "We expect [the contingency costs] to cover legal fees, particularly strengthening our enforcement effort in such areas as our capacity to pursue criminal cases where appropriate."

For 2009-10, the FSA has hiked its professional services spend – which includes external legal and accounting costs – setting aside an additional £14.7m, amounting to a 23.5% hike in allotted funds. The body recently completed its first ever legal panel with Norton Rose and Ashurst winning places.

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