Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, set out a defence yesterday of plans to extend new EU pay and bonus rules into the asset management sector - but said they would not be the regulator's main means of keeping tabs on the industry.

Speaking at the FSA's annual asset-management conference, Turner conceded that "issues around remuneration" had been a top concern for the industry ever since the regulator unveiled plans this summer to incorporate EU bonus principles into its new pay code.