Tony Blair sets up finance firm but insists it is not a bank

Tony Blair has set up a company that can provide investment services to funds and individuals.

The former prime minister's Mayfair-based firm has recruited senior financiers and has been authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The move could pave the way for another extension of Mr Blair's business activities, which are thought to have earned him more than 20 million since leaving Downing Street three years ago.

However, Mr Blair's spokesman dismissed the idea that he was planning to create a bank or finance house as "fatuous".

FSA documents show Firerush Ventures No 3 will trade as Tony Blair Associates and is permitted to "arrange deals in investments" for clients. It could also "make arrangements with a view to transactions in investments".

However, it is not allowed to hold clients' money, meaning it cannot carry out many traditional banking functions.

Financiers Varun Chandra and Mark Labovitch have been registered with the FSA to act on behalf of Firerush, along with some of Mr Blair's long-term aides.

They include his No 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell and Catherine Rimmer, who worked in the Downing Street research unit.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said: "The very idea that Tony Blair is starting a bank or finance house for the super-rich is fatuous.

"As we explained at the time, FSA approval was simply sought out of an abundance of caution.

"Tony Blair Associates provides strategic advice on a commercial and pro-bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform."

Last week, Mr Blair announced he was donating the estimated 5m proceeds from his forthcoming memoirs, A Journey, to the Royal British Legion.

The RBL acknowledged it was a controversial move but said accepting the donation did not mean it was endorsing Mr Blair's decisions to go to war.