The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rejected 8,582 financial promotions in 2022 and sought their amendment or removal by authorized firms. This is approximately 1,400% more than the 573 financial promotions the regulator rebuffed in 2021.

The FCA disclosed the figures on Friday in a statement, noting that it published over 1,800 scam alerts last year to protect investors against scammers.

The increase in intervention comes as the financial markets regulator said it has made “significant improvements to the digital tools” it deploys to fish out problematic firms and their misleading adverts. This made it possible for the regulator to work on a larger number of cases than they were able to in 2021.

Furthermore, the FCA said ‘fin-fluencers’ have become a growing source of concern as it has had to act against several of them in the past year. Additionally, the regulator 'worked closely' with several big tech companies in 2022. The goal, the financial markets supervisor explained, was to make them alter their advertising policies to only allow financial promotions approved by firms it had authorized. However, the regulator said tech companies need to do more to protect consumers.

FCA to Introduce New ‘Consumer Duty’ in July

Under the FCA’s current regime, only authorized firms can approve financial ads on behalf of those not under its supervision. However, in December last year, the UK Parliament proposed a new policy that will require FCA-authorized firms to undergo a new assessment to ensure that they appropriately approve promotional campaigns. Work is still ongoing on this, the FCA said in the new statement released on Friday.

“The FCA is currently consulting on introducing tougher checks for firms which want to approve financial promotions. The measures will make sure the FCA is able to quickly put a stop to harmful financial promotions by unauthorized firms and individuals,” the regulator noted.

In addition, the FCA said it will introduce 'Consumer Duty' in July this year. The regulator first proposed a new set of consumer duties for financial firms in May 2021 and previously set July 2022 as the date to kick off enforcement following its public consultation.

“Under the Duty, firms will need to demonstrate that they are providing consumers with information, which helps them to make effective and informed decisions about financial products and services,” the FCA explained in the new statement.