Easy to formulate a riposte you might think. But the FSA is cracking down on recruitment for City jobs.

Financial firms will be subject to a incresingly stringent vetting process by the FSA when it comes to choosing senior executives.

Already eighteen out of 172 candidates for City directorships and other senior bank jobs have been rejected in the past year by the Financial Services Authority, it said yesterday.

A letter written by the FSA has been sent to the chief executives of 5,000 financial institutions telling them that the watchdog will ‘undertake a close vetting of appointments and will expect to interview candidates’.

Are there teeth in that bite?