FCA says firms 'still falling short' of new ad rules

Since 1 April, the FCA has reviewed over 1,500 financial promotions for consumer credit products. The rules state that all promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading for consumers.

In the same period, the FCA has opened 227 cases about non-compliant promotions for products such as payday loans, debt management services and credit brokers. A quarter of these cases relate to advertisements for high-cost short-term credit, with many not prominently displaying a risk warning or representative APR. 80% of consumer credit cases to date relate to digital media, such as websites, emails and text messages.

Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the FCA, said:

“It is important that all firms ensure financial promotions are fair, clear and not misleading so that customers are able to make informed decisions. We are disappointed to see standards fall short of what we expect, particularly in the consumer credit space, four months from when we took over regulation. We believe that firms in this sector can do more to ensure financial promotions meet the standards we would expect and will continue to monitor performance in this area.”