On Wednesday 9 January 2019 we placed on our website a letter addressed to the CEOs of all our regulated firms to remind them of their responsibilities relating to the use of financial promotions.
We have recently become aware of firms issuing financial promotions which suggest or imply that all of the activities which they undertake are regulated by us and/or the PRA when they are not.
The letter reminds firms’ senior managers and boards of what constitutes fair, clear and unambiguous financial promotions.
Jonathan Davidson, Executive Director of Supervision – Retail and Authorisations at the FCA, said:
‘It is completely unacceptable for firms, which are regulated for some of their business, to market unregulated investments by implying to customers that all their business is regulated. We are committed to stamping out this misleading practice and recommend that customers should ask firms whether what they are buying is really regulated by the FCA.’
We encourage all firms to read and reflect on this letter to ensure that they understand our rules relating to financial promotions.
Whilst we do not approve advertising and it is up to firms to ensure that financial promotions are compliant, we do monitor adverts across different media in the UK.
Find out more about our powers to ban a promotion or advert.