FCA wants fin prom approvers to do better

The FCA has reviewed a selection of 10 firms that approve financial promotions. It selected firms who were approving promotions for unregulated BNPL, crowdfunding and corporate finance firms.While it was pleased that some were applying the Consumer Duty throughout their processes, others did not. Among the most concerning failings it found were:

• adverts being approved when they included unsubstantiated claims;
• retail investors being allowed to see promotions intended for professional clients; and
• firms relying on third party templates instead of doing checks themselves.

As a result of the review, one firm has carried out a remediation exercise and some website are no longer available to retail customers.