Is the FCA finally catching up with finfluencers?

Regulated advisers have spent years watching financial nonsense spread across social media while worrying about whether every risk warning is displayed in precisely the right way.

The people filming investment tips beside hired sports cars have generally appeared less troubled by the finer points of financial promotions law.

That easy run may be ending.

During the first year of its latest five-year strategy, the Financial Conduct Authority stepped up its action against illegal financial promotions and market abuse. An international crackdown on unlawful finfluencer promotions led to three arrests and 650 requests for social media content to be removed.

The regulator also secured prison sentences totalling 11 years across two insider-dealing cases.

This is regulatory activity most advisers can probably support. Social media has made financial information easier to find, but it has also given dubious investments and unqualified opinions a quick route to millions of potential customers.

Anyone watching a polished 30-second video may have no idea whether its presenter is authorised, competent or simply good at pointing towards captions while music plays in the background.

What is the crackdown worth?

Advisers are entitled to ask what they receive for the fees and levies paid to the regulator.

The FCA estimates that its work against financial crime delivered £5.6 billion in benefits to consumers, firms and the wider economy. A similar calculation for the value created by regulated advice would be welcome, although finding a spreadsheet large enough may take a while.

The £5.6 billion figure is encouraging. It also gives some idea of how much financial rubbish was circulating before anyone reached for the handcuffs.

Enforcement is only part of the effort. The FCA has also introduced Firm Checker, a service designed to help consumers establish whether a financial firm is authorised before trusting it with their money.

Critics have argued that the service can be difficult for ordinary consumers to use and may return confusing results. Even so, the FCA estimates that Firm Checker has been used more than 1.9 million times since its introduction in January 2025.

Following an advertising campaign at the beginning of 2026, warnings displayed through the service helped protect an average of 694 consumers each week, according to the regulator. That represented an increase of 49 per cent.

Useful numbers, although a fraud-prevention service is only as good as the public’s ability to understand what it tells them.

Warnings only go so far

Investment fraud remains a considerable threat. The FCA issued 2,329 warnings about unauthorised or potentially fraudulent firms during 2025, up from 2,240 in 2024.

Alongside those warnings, it pursued serious cases of market abuse through enforcement action and criminal prosecution. Another consumer alert won’t deter everyone. Occasionally, a prison sentence makes the point rather more effectively.

Advisers are already doing much of the daily work needed to protect clients. You’re challenging suspicious ‘opportunities’, explaining why implausible returns tend to be implausible for a reason and helping people distinguish regulated advice from whatever an algorithm placed in front of them over breakfast.

The regulator’s job is to make that work easier: remove illegal promotions, pursue those responsible and provide public tools that people can use without needing professional help to decipher the results.

The latest figures suggest the FCA has been busy. Firm Checker could still be easier to navigate, but 650 removal requests, three arrests and 11 years of prison sentences amount to more than sternly worded guidance.

At The Timebank, our contribution is less dramatic. We provide paraplanning support that keeps cases moving and gives advisers more time for the conversations clients actually need, including the awkward one about why an investment promoted beside a gleaming sports car might deserve closer inspection.

Finfluencers had plenty of time to enjoy the gap between online speed and regulatory action. The FCA now appears to be narrowing it.