How to review marketing against financial promotion rules
Ensuring your marketing is compliant prevents legal issues and builds essential trust with your customers and the regulator.
Bottom-Line Up Front: In the UK, every financial promotion must be 'fair, clear, and not misleading.' If your business is not yet authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), you cannot legally issue a financial promotion unless it is approved by an authorised firm or falls under a specific legal exemption. Communicating an unapproved promotion is a criminal offence, so every piece of content—from a tweet to a billboard—must undergo a rigorous compliance review before it goes live.
The Core Standard: Fair, Clear, and Not Misleading
The FCA's Financial Promotion (FINPRO) rules are designed to protect consumers from making poorly informed decisions. To meet the 'fair, clear, and not misleading' standard, your marketing must follow these principles:
- Balance: You must give as much prominence to the risks as you do to the benefits. If you use a large, bold font to describe potential returns, you cannot hide the risks in tiny footnotes.
- Accuracy: Every claim you make must be factually correct and capable of being evidenced. Avoid 'cherry-picking' data to make your product look better than it is.
- Clarity: Use plain English. Avoid complex jargon that a 'retail' (everyday) customer might not understand. If you must use technical terms, explain them clearly.
The 'Section 21' Gateway
Under Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, a person must not communicate an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity unless they are an authorised person, or the content has been approved by one. As a startup, you have two main paths:
- Appointed Representative (AR) Route: If you are operating under a Principal firm, they will usually act as your approver.
- S21 Approver: You can pay a third-party FCA-authorised firm to review and 'sign off' your promotions. They will add their name to the footer of your ads to show they have been vetted.
A Practical Review Checklist
Before publishing any marketing material, run through this checklist to ensure you stay on the right side of the regulator:
| Check Area | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Risk Warnings | Is the risk warning legible? Does it stand out from the background? |
| Fees & Costs | Are all charges, including exit fees or currency conversion costs, clearly stated? |
| Performance | If showing past performance, do you include a disclaimer that 'past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results'? |
| Prominence | Is the most important information easy to see at a glance? |
Managing Social Media and Influencers
The FCA is increasingly strict about 'finfluencers' and social media marketing. Character limits on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or the visual nature of Instagram and TikTok are not excuses for omitting required warnings. If a post is too short to include a full risk warning, the FCA's view is often that the platform is not an appropriate place for that specific promotion.
Record Keeping
Always maintain a 'Compliance Log' of every promotion you release. This should include:
- A copy of the final asset (screenshot, video, or PDF).
- The date and platform where it was published.
- Evidence of who approved the content (e.g., the sign-off certificate from your S21 approver).
- The data or sources used to back up any claims made in the copy.
By treating marketing compliance as a core part of your brand identity rather than a hurdle, you demonstrate to both the FCA and your customers that you are a professional, trustworthy business.
Created by hatch. • Updated on April 28, 2026