FCA has published its analysis of its data from 2021 relating to action it took against authorised firms breaching financial promotion rules. Key conclusions included:
- an increase in amendment and withdrawal of promotions, compared to a similar number of cases in 2020 – 564 promotions were amended or withdrawn across 132 firms, compared to 207 from a similar number of firms last year;
- over three-quarters of FCA’s interventions against authorised firms related to retail investments and retail lending;
- some of the most common breaches came from retail lenders and CMCs;
- FCA is becoming concerned about retail investment use of influencers on social media and stresses that firms should ensure they have taken appropriate legal advice before using influencers;
- a 10% increase in reports of illegal promotions, resulting in an increase in FCA issued alerts – it issued 1410 alerts, of which around 30% related to clone scams
- a significant reduction in non-compliant paid-for ads by unauthorised entities on Google since it implemented its new policy