In spite of the Northern Rock debacle, Britain's system of financial regulation is still the envy of Wall Street. The “light touch” regime run by the Financial Services Authority is less onerous, fairer and more effective than the US system, say the fans.

In competition regulation, by contrast, the practice in Britain appears to have an increasingly American style to it. And it is not a pretty sight.

John Fingleton, chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), arrived from the Republic of Ireland in 2005 with a tough guy reputation and immediately set about attacking some populist targets.

He has taken on airlines over fuel surcharges, supermarkets over dairy prices, banks over charges and building companies over bid-rigging. The OFT has adopted American-style surveillance techniques and developed a taste for over-excited press releases.

Last September the OFT issued a release that accused Britain's top supermarkets of running a massive milk, cheese and butter cartel.

The retailers were aggrieved because they thought that they had been doing the Government's bidding by increasing the price they paid to farmers.

But it was the tone of the release, which was based on a preliminary finding, that outraged them. Sir Terry Leahy, of Tesco, sugggested sarcastically that it would be better if the OFT issued the release at the end of the inquiry rather than at the beginning. To American observers, it was reminiscent of the “trial by media” tactics employed by Eliot Spitzer against Wall Street when he was New York attorney-general.

Mr Spitzer never apologised (at least, not about that), but the OFT issued an humiliating apology to Wm Morrison yesterday.

The quotes in the release “were not intended to suggest that the OFT had concluded Morrisons guilty”, it grovelled.

The OFT may have been too soft in the past. But it must be hoped that it will clean up its own act after shelling out an estimated £500,000 in costs and compensation to Morrisons. Or, as the press release would say: “OFT fines taxpayer record £500,000.”

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