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What has happened? 

In November 2023, the FCA issued a summary of the data generated between 1 July 2023 and 30 September 2023 from its actions against firms breaching its financial promotion rules and its referrals and investigations into unregulated activity.

What are the key points of the summary?

• In 2023 Q3, the FCA reviewed 1,211 financial promotions from multiple sources:

75% from its own monitoring,
11% from consumers,
6% from other UK regulators,
4% from different areas of the FCA, and
4% from firms

• FCA interventions in 2023 Q3 resulted in 5,310 promotions being amended or withdrawn by 56 authorised firms.
• On 8 October 2023, the financial promotion rules for cryptoassets went live. These rules require financial promotions to be clear, fair, and not misleading, to display clear risk warnings, to disclose the firm’s regulated status, and cease offering any form of incentive to invest.
• The FCA has reviewed the marketing and promotions of Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) providers, which resulted in it writing to 18 firms and 55 promotions being amended or withdrawn.

The retail investments and retail lending sectors had the highest amend/withdraw outcomes, totalling 80% of interventions with authorised firms. 

Some of the most common breaches involved debt advice firms, credit broker firms, and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) providers.

Strengthening the financial promotion rules for high-risk investments and firms approving financial promotions took effect from 1 December 2022 (regarding risk warnings) and 1 February 2023 (regarding all other rules). Further to this, the FCA conducted an extensive review of EIS providers, reviewing 46 EIS product providers’ websites to check compliance with the new requirements for high-risk warnings. 18 firms are in the process of being written to regarding non-compliance with the use of the high-risk warnings or the risk summary. This proactive work resulted in 55 promotions being amended or withdrawn.

How can we help you? 

Thistle Initiatives has supported firms for over 10 years as a trusted compliance and regulatory advisor. In addition to assisting you as-and-when, our team of specialists can serve as your right hand in meeting and complying with FCA regulations. We understand the importance of staying up-to-date and compliant and are dedicated to providing the guidance and support needed to do so.

Are you looking for help with your financial promotion arrangements, or more general regulatory questions? Contact our specialist team now to schedule a free consultation. Get in touch with us by calling 020 7436 0630 or sending an email to info@thistleinitiatives.co.uk.