The FCA has said it has doubled down its enforcement actions aimed at preventing misleading financial adverts that can cause financial harm to individuals.
In a press release, the regulator said: “Nearly 20,000 financial promotions were withdrawn or amended in 2024 following intervention from the FCA – nearly double the amount in 2023.”
It adds that: “The regulator has highlighted concerns with cryptoasset, debt solutions, and claims management company (CMC) promotions.”
“The FCA continues to urge social media platforms to do more to proactively identify and prevent illegal financial promotions,” the press release reads.
Lucy Castledine, Director of Consumer Investments at the FCA, said: ”Over the past year, we have seen a growing number of misleading and illegal financial promotions. We have stepped up our efforts in response to make sure that financial promotions are clear, fair, and accurate.”
Consultation
The FCA announced last week it had now “written to people who complained about the way the FCA handled the Blackmore Bonds case.”
In a statement, the regulator said: “Blackmore Bond PLC (Blackmore) was an unregulated firm that raised funds by issuing mini-bonds. Two regulated firms, NCM Fund Services (NCM) and Northern Provident Investments (NPI), approved the financial promotions for the mini-bonds.
“The FCA conducted thorough enforcement investigations into NCM and NPI and decided that the financial promotions were largely accurate and contained very relevant risk warnings to consumers, so it did not take enforcement action against either firm.”
But according to the regulator: “Complainants have raised a number of different issues about the FCA’s action surrounding Blackmore – including that the FCA failed to act following warnings about the firm, failed to protect investors and allowed misleading marketing.
“The FCA has carefully considered the complaints and decided not to uphold them.”
Separately, the FCA says it has written to firms in the payment services sector, setting out its current priorities. The Dear CEO Letter addresses firms such as “Payment Institutions (PIs), Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs), and Registered Account Information Service Providers (RAISPs).”
According to the letter, the National Payments Vision “has three pillars – innovation, competition, and security – and highlights the importance of payments to the UK economy, including as a source of growth.”
We have covered the story in more length.
Media and speeches
Also last week, Emily Shepperd, chief operating officer, delivered a speech at the 10th Annual Culture and Conduct in Financial Services Summit. Key highlighted included:
- Culture drives conduct and decision-making, which directly affect outcomes for consumers, markets, and our economy. For this reason, culture will continue to be a regulatory concern.
- It is vital that the informed, responsible risk-taking required for long-term economic growth is built on a strong foundation of healthy firm cultures.
- The FCA is actively working with stakeholders to drive up culture and conduct standards.
We covered the speech in detail.
