Financial promotions data 2022

The Financial Conduct Authority, FCA, has published the latest financial promotion data covering the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. The regulator was thereby stunned about the number of interventions it has undertaken to remove or alter deceptive, fraudulent, or simply wrong promotions of a large range of financial market participants and therefore urgently calls upon firms to review their marketing practices to ensure compliance with the FCA’s rules and regulations.
Some of the findings are briefly noted below:
– In 2022 the FCA received a total of 25,861 reports about suspected illegal promotion activity.
– The FCA has obliged firms to remove or modify 8,582 promotions which is an increase of nearly 1,400% from the previous year.
– Many deceptive or inadequate promotions were found online, particularly on social media such as facebook or instagram.
– The FCA issued a total of 1,882 alerts in 2022 about unauthorized activities or unauthorized firms which represents an increase of 34% from the previous year.
– A new trend involving fin-fluencers has emerged which encompasses the influencing of consumers towards the purchase of certain financial products and services.
Based on these findings the FCA concludes that it will uphold or even expand its efforts to screen websites and social media to prevent harm from investors through the use of deceptive advertisement. This is even more important when considering the current financial strains on consumers and the increased likelihood that they fall for deceptive or untruthful (investment return) promises. In addition, the FCA is currently consulting on „tougher checks for firms which want to approve financial promotions“ and soon, the new consumer duty will come into force imposing a high set of business standards of financial firms operating in UK.
To review all findings of the FCA, please refer to the original FCA publication.