The FCA is stepping up its scrutiny on financial promotions by actively monitoring promotions and issuing warnings to firms that breach the rules.
The main issues of concern are:
- The excessive use of investment jargon (which could confuse the consumer);
- Font sizes for warning statements being too small and difficult to read;
- The risk posed by a product or service that placed a client’s capital at risk, not being made abundantly clear;
- Promotions which incorrectly gave a yield figure that did not give a balanced impression of both the short and long term prospects for the investment;
- When promotional advertisements describe a product or service as being ‘guaranteed’, ‘protected’ or ‘secure’ without any further confirmation or explanation.
The FCA is most concerned about promotions that highlight the potential returns without giving as much prominence to the risks of the investment.
Publication of Directory Persons data
Michael Senior Compliance 2021, Directory, FCA, Register
Another March reminder! Solo-regulated firms must submit their Directory Persons data via Connect by 31 March 2021. Submissions of 10 persons or more using the multiple upload functionality must be done between 11 January and 18 March to ensure submissions are processed ahead of the deadline. A failure to submit required data in time would be a […]