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The regulator published its annual report on Monday, which included details of senior staff pay structures over the last financial year.

Clive Briault - former managing director of retail markets for the FSA, who resigned after the Northern Rock debacle - got a "performance related bonus" of £30,000 to go with a £528,952 compensation package and a £300,000 salary, making him the top earning board member in 2008.

Hector Sants, chief executive, had the second highest pay, picking up £661,948 in total, including a £114,000 performance bonus, a £417,179 salary and "benefits" of £130,769. Outgoing chairman Sir Callum McCarthy was paid £480,553 in salary and benefits.

Total remuneration for executive and non-executive directors was around £3.2m, compared to £2.6m in 2007, despite the authority making net losses of more than £3m, following a £17m net surplus the year before.

Total revenue, raised from fees levied on organisations under the FSA's jurisdiction, rose a little under £40m to £304.7m, but administrative costs also soared £37m, from £295m in 2007, while cash raised from fines fell from around £14m to £4m.

In May Sir Callum and Mr Sants appeared before the Treasury select committee of MPs to answer questions on the circumstances leading up to the collapse of Northern Rock in September last year.

The chief executive admitted he was "absolutely clear" the regulator's handling had been "unacceptable", while the chairman said: "We did not do the job properly".

Nick Cann, the chief executive of the Institute of Financial Planning, said there was a case for the FSA "setting an example" to the industry over pay and criticised the Mr Briault's level of remuneration.

"It does show that if you drop a clanger it is not such a bad thing after all," he said. "It does not seem right but it is the way it is. If you have overseen things that have gone wrong it seems strange to me that you get rewarded for it."

A senior figure at one of the industry's major training organisations, who asked not to be identified, called on Sir Callum's successor, Lord Turner, to look into these bonuses when he takes over in September.

He said: "In the current climate it does not seem advisable for people to be taking heafty bonuses and the issue of who is to blame for Northern Rock makes it even more surprising that they are receiving performance-related pay."

"It would seem sensible in any organisation, if someone takes the helm after a year with problems like that, to look at issues like remuneration."

But David Middleton, strategic marketing chief for IFAs Towry Law, said the FSA was right to pay bonuses at current levels to "attract the best talent".

Mr Sants defended the pay, adding: "I am determined that the FSA will not be defined by the Northern Rock incident, but rather by our response to it."