2 April 2006

The FSA is working closely with the Police and Serious Fraud Office, who are investigating possible fraudulent activity in the commercial property sector.

We do not yet have completely reliable information about the extent of this activity. Inquiries relate to a number of commercial property transactions that involved funding from FSA-authorised lenders (i.e. banks and building societies).

Activity which may be fraudulent is spread across a number of banks and building societies and, on information available to date, the FSA has no concerns about the solvency of any individual lender.

Where FSA has received information giving rise to suspicion that any individual firm might be a victim to this alleged fraud, we are bringing it to their attention.