Traditionally, the UK's FSA has been a "light-touch" regulator that prided itself on not meddling too much with the businesses it regulated. In 2007, for instance, Hector Sants stated in his first speech as FSA chief executive that the FSA was committed to implementing more principles-based regulation. Sants explained in 2007 that the FSA's desired approach was to regulate firms by requiring managers to "run their own businesses in accordance with general principles of conduct laid down by the regulator rather than by setting down strict rules by which they must operate."

Fast-forward to 2010, however, and that light-touch is quickly vanishing. Throughout 2009, the FSA rattled sabers, pursued criminal prosecutions for insider trading, and even had Sants out in front warning the financial sector that "people should be very frightened of the FSA.” The most recent evidence of the FSA's change in approach is a proposal reported yesterday that traders' mobile cell phones used for business no longer be exempt from rules requiring banks and brokerages to record employees’ calls. The FSA could then listen to the taped mobile phone calls later as part of its effort to crack down on insider trading. The FSA said that approximately 22,000 phones would be covered.

The FSA stated that it was also proposing a new rule requiring firms to take reasonable steps to ensure that their employees do not simply move their communications to "private communication equipment which firms cannot record mainly for privacy reasons. This includes private mobiles, private handheld mobile electronic communication devices as well as and private non-mobile electronic communication devices."