THE City watchdog has levied fewer fines on companies and individuals this year - but the average size of the penalty has been higher.
The Financial Services Authority issued a total of 19 fines in 2005, compared with 32 the previous year.
The collective value of the fines was £16.3m, giving an average fine of nearly £860,000, compared with a total of £24.8m the previous year and an average of £774,000.
The regulator said it had continued to issue bigger fines in a few cases where there were significant breaches, rather than handing out lots of smaller fines.
Citigroup received the largest fine of the year when it was made to pay £13.9m by the FSA for a bond trade that shook the eurozone markets and caused a sharp drop in bond prices.
That was down on the biggest fine of last year, when Royal Dutch Shell was ordered to pay £17m for market abuse after it mis-stated its oil and gas reserves.
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