Over the past two years the regulator has been cracking down on unlawful land banking. During the period, it has obtained interim freezing orders from the courts for 10 unauthorised land banks.

Last year alone, the FSA closed down criminal land banks representing £60m of lost consumer money.

A spokesman for the FSA said: "If we suspect a case of land banking we go to court and get an injunction to immediately freeze the assets."

However, in most cases the regulator is unable to return to money to customers.

(Via FT Adviser. To read the full story, click here)