The FCA has published its financial promotions data for Q3 2024 on its actions against firms breaching financial promotion rules, and referrals and investigations into unregulated activity.
During the period:
- 10,593 promotions were amended or withdrawn by authorised firms. This is sharp increase from 3,273 in Q2, but can be explained by the fact that one firm withdrew 6,792 promotions, many of which were historical promotions withdrawn as a precaution;
- 552 alerts were issued on authorised firms and individuals, of which 12% were clone scams;
- 1,702 consumer alerts were issued about illegal crypto promotions, and the FCA’s actions resulted in the removal of over 900 scam crypto websites and 56 apps from UK apps stores.
- These figures follow the cryptoasset financial promotions regime coming into force on 8 October 2023.
The FCA highlighted that it is actively engaging with firms who appear to be providing and advertising unauthorised debt advice and debt solutions to consumers via online promotions. This includes observing trends of aggressive sponsored promotions by unauthorised firms, particularly through TikTok and paid-for Google advertisements.