Nearly 20,000 online ads, including promotions for cryptocurrency, debt solutions and claims management companies (CMCs), were withdrawn or amended last year by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
That was nearly double the 10,008 adverts that breached the financial promotion rules in 2023.
Of those removed in 2024, around 10,000 were related to CMCs, with most ads targeting vulnerable customers regarding opening a complaint about housing disrepair or claiming back money for the mis-sale of motor finance.
The regulator scanned the internet to analyse 480,000 new websites that potentially advertised financial services or products without the correct permissions in place.
As a result, 3,700 were placed under review and UK customers were alerted to 1,600 firms that did not abide by the good and fair practices set out by the regulator.
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Since 2023, crypto-asset and other financial firms have needed to inform the FCA to approve any adverts and must also “have the required competence and expertise as well as adequate systems, controls and processes to ensure that any promotions they approve comply with the FCA’s rules”.
Those requirements include personalised risk warnings, a 24-hour cooling-off period for investments, and for the services to be targeted at the correct customers and not vulnerable people.
In November, a separate study found a third of cryptocurrency investors believed their cash was secured and they could complain to the regulator if something went wrong.
However, that is not the case, as the FCA only regulates the asset class for anti-money laundering (AML) and marketing.
Meanwhile, the number of unauthorised firms and individuals highlighted to the public for poor practices dropped from 2,286 in 2023 to 2,240 in 2024. However, it is still much higher than in previous years, the regulator noted. Two firms were banned from communicating with customers and advertising any financial products.
As part of the clampdown, 18 firms submitted a voluntary requirement request, meaning the companies’ practices were monitored, with discharge from the arrangement only applied when the service adhered to better conduct to customers.
It follows the FCA’s investigation into 20 social media ‘finfluencers’ that promoted investments without including risk warnings, which has been deemed a criminal offence since March last year.
Since the crackdown on social media content creators promoting cryptocurrency, an alert now appears next to the influencer to alert viewers that unlawful promotions could be part of the post.
However, the regulator admitted that “there is still a lot of work to be done by all social media platforms”.
‘We want to see platforms take stronger action’
It noted: “We want to see platforms take stronger action to proactively identify and stop illegal promotions being pushed on consumers.”
Lucy Castledine, director of consumer investments at the FCA, said: “Over the past year, we have seen a growing number of misleading and illegal financial promotions. We have stepped up our efforts in response to make sure that financial promotions are clear, fair, and accurate.
“We expect firms to take the necessary steps to meet standards and will continue to work with other bodies, including social media platforms, to prevent illegal promotions being pushed at consumers.”
