A freedom of information request submitted by Bridging & Commercial revealed that the FCA group, which includes the FCA and its wholly owned subsidiary the Payment Systems Regulator, had spent £309.1m between April and October 2016, £19.2m less than for the same period in 2015.
Operating costs for the full year for 2015/16 stood at £552.2m. The business year for 2016/17 ends in March 2017. The monthly spend for 2016/17 does not yet contain year-end adjustments and also has not yet been audited.
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The savings during the seven-month period last year were boosted by a £10.9m reduction in IT costs and an £8.4m cutback in professional fees, which fell to £39.4m and £14.7m respectively.
A further £3.5m was saved in temporary staff costs.
Despite the drop in costs, the FCA did spend an additional £4.1m on gross salaries and taxable benefits in the April to October 2016 period, with costs rising to £154.1m.
An additional £1.3m was also spent on accommodation and office services, representing a cost of £21.5m between April and October 2016.
The news comes just months after the FCA was found to have spent £1.85m on Project Innovate since its launch in October 2014.
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