The FSA also ordered an audit of all horse-producing abattoirs in the UK. There are five abattoirs operating that are licensed to slaughter horses in the UK and last year 8, 500 carcasses were exported to Italy, France and Belgium.

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"The central problem lies in the twin role of the FSA - it is supposed to look after the consumer and prevent damage to the UK financial sector, " Louise Hanson, Consumers' Association spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

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Both the Switzerland-based Basel Committee on Banking Supervision1 (BCBS) and the Financial Services Authority2 (FSA) in the UK have recently made it clear that when relying on manual processes, desktop applications or key internal data flow systems such as spreadsheets, banks and insurers should have effective controls in place that are consistently applied to manage risks around incorrect, false or even fraudulent data.

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