Let’s start with the word from the FCA;
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) annual report sets out how it has used data and technology to crack down on harm in financial services.
Over 1,600 websites suspected of promoting financial services without permission were suspended, removed or blocked in 2024 because of FCA action, as part of its fight against financial crime. The regulator also collaborated with big tech platforms, resulting in over 50 apps being removed from Google Play and the App Store. This has helped the regulator in its work to block fraud at source.
New technology also helped the FCA identify firms that did not meet its standards earlier and at scale. In 2024 the regulator intervened to ensure almost 20,000 non-compliant financial promotions were amended or withdrawn by authorised firms, compared to under 600 in 2021. It took action to protect social media users from illegal financial promotions by unauthorised ‘finfluencers’. The FCA also cancelled the authorisations of over 1,500 firms – 20% more than in 2023, and more than triple the number in 2021.
The FCA’s annual report sets out how it has delivered these and other important improvements for consumers, firms and markets in the final year of its 2022-2025 strategy.
WILMERHALE
Commenting on the FCA’s Annual Report 2024/25, published today, Imogen Makin, counsel at WilmerHale, said:
“The FCA’s stated focus on assertive supervision is borne out in the enforcement data published in today’s Annual Report. The number of open enforcement operations has dropped to 130 from 188, while the number of new enforcement operations opened in 24/25 has decreased from 25 to 23, and own initiative requirements have fallen in comparison with the previous year. At the same time, voluntary requirements have risen by 18%, demonstrating the regulator’s increasing use of supervisory powers.
“However, firms should not be mistaken: the FCA has been very clear that it will take action where it considers there is most risk of harm. The decrease in the length of enforcement cases also underlines what has been foreshadowed in several speeches: investigations will be quicker and there may be fewer open operations at any one time, but the FCA is aiming to take action in just as many cases overall.”
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