LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) is increasing the money it raises from companies by more than a third to pay for a tightening of its regulatory regime in response to the global banking crisis.

The FSA, funded by levies from the companies it regulates, said it plans to raise a total of £437.7 million ($627 million) in the year to March 31, 2010, a rise of 36.5 percent from the previous year.

Britain's financial markets watchdog said the increase partly reflected the appointment of 280 new staff to spearhead more "intrusive and directive" supervision.

The regulator said it would, in particular, increase scrutiny of large companies to make sure they were adequately funded and had sustainable business plans.

It stressed that its regime would remain less onerous than the United States' "bank examiner" approach.

"We would still not be them most resource-heavy regulator around the world," FSA chief executive Hector Sants told reporters on a conference call.

The FSA's move comes after the government was forced last year to part-nationalise three of the UK's biggest banks after write-downs on risky debt-backed investments and an abrupt shortage of wholesale funding pushed them to the brink of collapse.

Sants said the increase in the levy would be borne largely by the biggest financial companies, with contributions from major British retail lenders doubling, while those from big London-based investment banks would rise by between 60 percent and 70 percent.

That compares with an estimated six percent decrease in the levies paid by the 10,000 smallest financial companies, the FSA said.

"We have been sharing these numbers quite widely with industry prior to publication, and we believe we have the strong support of the larger groups," Sants said.