Google Policy Update Financial Services Advertising in the UK

Jul 5, 2021 12:00:00 AM

What has happened?

Google has announced in June 2021 that it will be updating its Google Ads Financial Products and Services policy in August 2021 to introduce new verification requirements for Financial Services advertisers targeting the UK. It will publish the policy update on August 30 2021 and enforcement will take effect seven days later.

What do you need to do?

Advertisers that have not successfully completed the updated verification process by the time enforcement begins will no longer be allowed to show financial services advertising of any kind in the UK, including showing advertisements to UK users who appear to be seeking financial services. As part of the verification process, advertisers must demonstrate that they are authorised by the FCA or qualify for one of the exemptions described on the UK Financial Services verification page. This requirement covers regulated and unregulated UK financial services.

Advertisers can initiate verification, or Google may require an advertiser to complete the verification process. Advertisers that fail to complete step 2 of the verification within the time given will have their accounts paused.

Advertisements related to the following categories will not be considered to be financial services for the purposes of this policy, but are still required to comply with all other Google Ads policies:

- Products in scope of the debt services policy,
- Products in scope of the complex speculative financial products policy, namely contracts for difference, rolling spot forex, financial spread betting. Advertisements for this category will be able to target UK users seeking financial services as long as they meet the requirements of Google’s complex speculative financial products policy and complete verification, if requested by Google, and
- Products in scope of the cryptocurrencies, credit repair, and binary options policies.

Violations of this policy will not lead to immediate account suspension without prior warning. A warning will be issued at least seven days prior to any suspension of a user’s account.

Firms are asked to review the policy update to determine whether or not any of their advertising falls within scope of the policy, and if so, to complete UK Financial Services verification or remove those advertisements before September 6 2021.

How can we help you?

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with your financial promotions arrangements, or any other regulatory compliance issues, our expert team is here to help.

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