City Watchdog bites back against dubious financial ads that mislead

The City watchdog is clamping down on firms that wave through dodgy financial adverts.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will today unveil a set of measures designed to prevent scandals such as the London Capital & Finance (LCF) mini-bond debacle.

Currently, any firm which is authorised by the FCA can approve financial promotions such as marketing on behalf of other, unregulated businesses. 

The Financial Conduct Authority will today unveil a set of measures designed to prevent scandals such as the London Capital & Finance mini-bond debacle

But the FCA is worried that shoddy checks by some firms, and collusion between others, mean customers are being exposed to illegal, unfair or misleading adverts – especially in areas such as high-risk investments and ‘buy now-pay later’.

In the case of LCF, for example, the firm used its FCA-authorised status to attract customers to its unregulated mini-bond business before it tumbled into administration in 2019.

Under the FCA’s new rules, which must be passed by Parliament in the Financial Services and Markets Bill, authorised firms will now have to go through extra checks before they can approve any marketing.