But profits would have been higher still, the report says, had the cost of regulation not wiped out some 5 per cent of total revenues.

We should consider instead whether the style, the density and the cost of regulation should vary according to the type of activity regulated.

With the cost of regulation rocketing — fees were up 18 per cent this year — the watchdog should be making more of a virtue of its fines.

It also adds to the list of important risks the cost of regulation, underinvestment in infrastructure, gaps in global governance systems, catastrophic coastal flood and data fraud.

Merging could cut the 200 million annual cost of regulation by 15-18 per cent by ending duplication, according to one estimate.