Regulations

Story: FCA Flags 10 Firms for Sloppy Financial Promotion Checks Under 2024 Rules

By James Thorp

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What the FCA Actually Found. The review covered promotions approved since each firm received its authorization.

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Enforcement Steps Already Taken. One firm has already been required to run a remediation exercise.

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Why This Matters for Crypto and Alternative Finance. Crowdfunding and Buy Now Pay Later sit right at the edge of where traditional financial regulation…

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The UK's Financial Conduct Authority just put the financial promotions industry on notice. A fresh review found that several authorized firms are falling short when it comes to…

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The FCA looked at 10 firms authorized to sign off on financial promotions for businesses that don't hold their own FCA authorization.

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Lucy Castledine, the FCA's director of consumer investments, put it plainly: consumers run into these promotions every single day, across all kinds of platforms.

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The review covered promotions approved since each firm received its authorization. That scope matters — the FCA wasn't just spot-checking recent work, it wanted to see how firms…

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Some firms are applying Consumer Duty properly. They're checking that promotions are accurate, that the audience is right, that claims can actually be backed up.

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The sectors under the microscope were Buy Now Pay Later, crowdfunding, and corporate finance.

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More context: FCA Wins High Court Approval to Return Argento Wealth Funds to Investors

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One firm has already been required to run a remediation exercise. Access to certain websites has been restricted for retail customers.

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And it probably won't stop there. The FCA was explicit that monitoring is ongoing and that firms not meeting the standards will be held accountable.

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The regulatory framework that makes all of this enforceable came into effect on February 7, 2024.

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Related: Frances AMF Gives Crypto Firms Until June 30 to Get MiCA-Licensed

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The FCA's broader push on Consumer Duty has been running for a while now, and the financial promotions review fits squarely into that.

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