The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported on Monday its third quarter data for flagged financial promotions for possible violations.
The UK regulator reported reviewing 514 financial promotions in Q3 2021, identified through complaints the regulator received and by proactively monitoring the industry activities.
According to the official announcement, 51% of reports we received from consumers, 25% are from internal areas of the FCA and 16% from other UK regulators. The UK watchdog detected 2% from proactive monitoring and 6% of the reports were received from firms.
The FCA stated:
We undertake many reviews of firms’ financial promotions, which are identified through multiple sources including both consumer and firm referrals. We look at every financial advert reported to us.
The regulator noted that 38% of all complaints were about retail investing promotion, while retail lending and retail banking constituted 42% and 12%, respectively. 8% of the complaints were against the promotions of general insurance and protection.
The FCA continued:
Where we conclude that an advert is in breach of our rules, we ask the firm which has communicated or approved it to withdraw the advert or change it so that it complies with our requirements. We may also ask firms to consider whether any customers may have acted on the basis of non-compliant promotions and to take appropriate action to remedy any harm which consumers may have suffered as a result.
The regulator highlighted that it started publishing the data quarterly from 2021 due to need for greater transparency on the subject.
New Zealand regulator FMA recently published guidance on how firms should advertise financial products, outlining key principles organisations should follow.
