FCA finds 60% of P2P firms not complying with new risk warning
Summary
The FCA has found that almost two thirds of peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding firms failed to comply with its new risk warning in the month when the rules came into force.
The regulator introduced a stronger consumer risk warning for P2P firms in December 2022, as part of an array of stricter rules on financial promotions. The FCA said in its annual report that it reviewed 67 firms two weeks after issuing the stronger warning to assess whether they were complying, and found that 60% had failed to comply with the new standards.
The FCA said ‘We were extremely concerned with this lack of compliance. So we took immediate action to ensure the firms remedied this.’
P2P platforms are now required to display the following risk warning on their website:
‘Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose money. This is a high‑risk investment. You may not be able to access your money easily and are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.’
Peer2Peer Finance News reported earlier this year that the FCA had written to trade bodies about its concerns that compliance with the new risk warning rules had been poor.