In 2024, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) took significant action against websites suspected of promoting unauthorized financial services, resulting in the suspension, removal, or blocking of over 1,600 sites.
The FCA collaborated with major tech platforms to remove more than 50 apps from Google Play and the App Store, utilizing innovative technology to promptly identify non-compliant firms at scale. The regulator also intervened to ensure that nearly 20,000 non-compliant financial promotions were amended or withdrawn by authorized firms, a dramatic increase from fewer than 600 in 2021. Furthermore, the FCA employed criminal powers to address illegal promotions by unauthorized “finfluencers.”
Additionally, the FCA’s annual report highlighted the cancellation of over 1,500 firm authorizations, marking a 20% increase from 2023 and more than triple the figure from 2021.
Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the FCA, remarked, “We’ve embraced data and technology to crack down on harm and ensure high standards… We’re ambitious for the future and committed to enabling a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy.”