I just received this press release (below) and I wasn't sure whether to laugh out loud, pinch myself or consult a calendar to check if it's 1 April.

It's from the Institute of Economic Affairs [2]:

In a new research paper released today, the Institute of Economic Affairs argues the coalition's proposals on financial reform will do little to improve the quality of financial regulation in the UK.

The coalition is proposing to abolish the FSA and reallocate its functions between a series of new quangos and the Bank of England. Instead Does Britain need a financial regulator? (authored by Philip Booth and Terry Arthur) suggests the regulation of investment markets, financial products, insurance companies and other financial institutions, currently carried out by the FSA and the Pensions Regulator, should be stopped and these sectors should instead be allowed to self-regulate within a framework of limited primary legislation.

Self-regulate? The bankers?! Have the guys and gals at the IEA been in a coma for the past two years? Or are they really the evidence-denying, bank-defending, free-market fanatics that this press release suggests?