FCA financial promotion rules for paid partnerships, explained for UK creators

What to take away

What the FCA regulates, and what it does not, for personal finance creators

The FCA regulates financial promotions in the UK. A financial promotion is an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity, communicated in the course of business. That definition comes from the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the statutory basis for the whole regime.

You can read the Act at Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

If you are a personal finance creator and a bank pays you to talk about its savings account, that is a financial promotion. The FCA does not regulate your general commentary on money, budgeting or your own experience. It regulates the paid promotion of specific financial products and services.

What the FCA does not do is approve every social media post before it goes live. The rules place duties on the firm and on anyone who communicates the promotion. The firm remains responsible for the content it pays for, even if you write the script.

These rules are based on the consumer protection objective of the FCA. The FCA must secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers, and promotion rules are one of the main tools. The objective is set out at Protecting consumers | FCA.

Other regulators touch your work too. The ASA polices advertising standards, the CMA looks at consumer law, HMRC covers tax on your income, and the ICO covers data protection. But for paid financial promotions, the FCA is the main regulator.

If you want a wider map, see which UK rules touch finance creator work, and why promotions are the statutory one.

Financial promotion rules in the FCA Handbook, including COBS 4

The FCA Handbook contains the detailed rules. It is the single source for conduct, prudential and disclosure requirements, and you can find it at Handbook of rules and guidance | FCA. For promotions, the key module is COBS 4, which sits in the Conduct of Business sourcebook.

COBS 4 requires a financial promotion to be fair, clear and not misleading. That applies to the overall impression, not just the small print. A promotion must be recognisable as a promotion. It must not hide the firm's role or the risks.

COBS 4 also sets rules on the balance of risk warnings. If a promotion mentions a benefit, it must give a fair and prominent indication of any relevant risks. For investments, that often means a risk warning that is at least as prominent as the benefit.

The rules apply across media. A video, a podcast read, a newsletter or a pinned post are all communications. The format does not change the standard. A short post has less room, so the disclosure has to work harder, not disappear.

COBS 4 sits alongside other Handbook rules. The financial promotion order and the underlying Act define what counts. The Handbook tells you how to communicate it. For a creator, the practical point is that the firm's compliance team should be able to point to the COBS 4 basis for the wording they ask you to use.

The boundary between editorial content and a financial promotion

The editorial versus promotion boundary is the line between content you create on your own terms and content that is paid for and controlled by a firm. Editorial content is your own opinion, your own research and your own experience. A financial promotion is an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity, made in the course of business.

Payment is the strongest signal. If a firm pays you, or gives you free products or services, or pays your agency, the content is likely to be a promotion. Control matters too. If the firm approves the script, sets the claims or requires a call to action, you are inside the promotion boundary.

A call to action is another signal. "Open an account", "apply now", "invest today" or a tracked link all point to inducement. A neutral explanation of how an ISA works does not, unless it is paid for and designed to push a specific product.

Even unpaid content can become a promotion if you are in the course of business. If you regularly accept payment for finance content, your channel is a business activity. A post that invites people to use a specific firm's product can then be a promotion even without a direct fee.

Disclosure is part of the boundary. A promotion must be identifiable as such. If a viewer cannot tell that a post is an advert, the content fails the fair, clear and not misleading test. The test for identification is set out in Is that finance post an advert.

What changes when a UK creator is paid for a partnership

When money changes hands, the legal position changes. You are no longer just a commentator. You are part of the promotion chain, and the FCA financial promotion rules apply to the communication you publish.

The firm usually remains responsible for the promotion. But that does not leave you free. If you communicate a promotion that breaches the rules, you can be liable too. The FCA can act against anyone who communicates an illegal promotion.

Your disclosure must change. A paid partnership needs a clear label, such as "ad" or "paid partnership with [firm]", placed where it is seen before the viewer engages. A label buried in hashtags or in the description after the call to action is not enough.

Your claims must be substantiated. If you say a product is the cheapest or the best, you need evidence the firm can stand behind. If you cannot get that evidence, do not make the claim.

Your record keeping must change. You need to keep the brief, the approved script, the disclosure wording and the firm's authorisation status. That file is your defence if a complaint arrives months later.

A practical way to handle this is a separate promotion gate in your workflow. Before any paid finance post goes live, it passes a gate that checks the firm, the claims, the disclosure and the approval. How to build that gate is covered in How to write a finance creator disclosure policy with a separate promotion gate.

Checking a firm on the FCA register before you promote it

The FCA register check is the first practical step. Before you agree to promote a firm, look it up on the FCA register. The register shows whether a firm is authorised and what it is allowed to do. You can check whether a firm is authorised before you sign anything.

Check the legal name, not just the trading name. Many firms trade under a brand that differs from the authorised entity. If the register entry shows a different name, ask the firm to explain the relationship.

Check the permissions. A firm may be authorised for one activity, such as credit broking, but not for another, such as accepting deposits. Promoting a product outside its permissions is a problem for both of you.

Check for warnings. The register and the FCA warning list show firms that are not authorised or that are clones of authorised firms. A clone uses the details of a real firm to appear legitimate. If the contact details differ from the register, treat it as a red flag.

Check the status of the person you deal with. An authorised firm must have approved persons for certain roles. If your contact cannot explain who is responsible for compliance, that is a warning sign.

A register check is not a one-off. Firms can lose authorisation or have restrictions imposed. Check again before each campaign, and keep a dated screenshot. For a wider comparison of sources, including the FCA Firm Checker and Companies House, see FCA Firm Checker.

Authorisation and approval: when a promotion needs a sign-off

If the firm is authorised, it can communicate its own promotions. It can also have them communicated by others, such as creators, provided the content meets the rules. The firm's compliance team should sign off the final wording.

If the firm is not authorised, the promotion may need approval by an authorised person. Section 21 of FSMA 2000 restricts the communication of invitations or inducements by unauthorised persons. An authorised firm can approve the promotion, but it must be a firm with the relevant permission.

Approval is not a rubber stamp. The approver must be competent, must understand the product, and must keep a record. If the approver is not authorised for the activity, the approval is not valid.

Some promotions are exempt. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 contains exemptions, for example for certain high net worth individuals or sophisticated investors. These exemptions are narrow and do not usually help a public social media post.

If you are unsure, ask the firm for its authorisation details and its compliance sign-off in writing. If the firm cannot provide them, do not publish. The FCA's authorisation pages explain what authorisation involves at Authorisation | FCA.

Sanctions, consumer protection and the statutory basis in FSMA

FSMA 2000 is the statutory basis for the FCA financial promotion rules. It gives the FCA the power to make rules and to take action against breaches. The Act also creates criminal offences for communicating a financial promotion without authorisation or approval.

The FCA can impose sanctions on firms and individuals. These include fines, public censure and prohibitions. The FCA can also require firms to withdraw or correct promotions.

For serious breaches, the FCA can bring criminal proceedings. Communicating an illegal financial promotion is a criminal offence under section 21 of FSMA 2000. A creator who publishes an unapproved promotion for an unauthorised firm can be caught.

Consumers have protection too. If a promotion is misleading, consumers can complain to the firm and, if unresolved, to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FCA's consumer protection objective is the policy reason for the rules.

The ASA also has a role. It can rule on whether an ad is misleading or not identifiable as an ad. ASA rulings are published and can damage a creator's reputation even where the FCA is not involved.

Documenting a promotion decision before publication

Documentation is your evidence that you took the rules seriously. It also helps the firm's compliance team and yours. Keep a single folder for each campaign, with the items below.

A worked example shows how this fits together. Suppose a savings platform offers you £2,000 for a video about its easy access account. You check the FCA register and find the firm is authorised to accept deposits. You ask for the compliance sign-off and a risk warning that is as prominent as the interest rate claim.

You label the video "paid partnership" at the start, not in the description. You keep the brief, the approved script, the register screenshot and the final video. If the FCA later asks, you can show the decision trail.

If the firm is not authorised, the same example changes. You would need an authorised firm to approve the promotion before you publish. Without that approval, the video would be an illegal financial promotion. The decision to publish, or not, is the one to document most carefully.

Common questions