FCA Cracks Down on Financial Crime and Boosts Consumer Protection in Final Year of Strategy

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has significantly ramped up its efforts to tackle financial misconduct and protect consumers, according to its latest annual report. Over the course of 2024, the UK regulator suspended, blocked, or took down more than 1,600 websites suspected of illegally promoting financial services without authorisation. It also worked in collaboration with major tech platforms, leading to the removal of over 50 apps from both Google Play and the App Store, a move designed to help “block fraud at source.”

Leveraging advanced technology, the FCA has been able to identify rule-breaking firms faster and on a much larger scale. In 2024 alone, it intervened to ensure nearly 20,000 non-compliant financial promotions were either amended or withdrawn by authorised firms—a dramatic leap from fewer than 600 similar actions in 2021. Efforts also targeted illegal financial advertising by unauthorised online influencers, known as "finfluencers."

In a further clampdown, the FCA revoked the authorisation of more than 1,500 firms in 2024, representing a 20% increase from the previous year and more than triple the number recorded in 2021.

Ashley Alder, Chair of the FCA, underscored the scale and impact of these actions: “Our annual report shows how we’ve laid the strongest possible foundation from which to implement our new strategy. We’ll build on this over the next five years to deepen trust and rebalance risk so we can support growth and improve lives.”

Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi echoed that sentiment, highlighting the regulator’s strategic pivot toward data and digital tools to bolster its mission. “We’ve embraced data and technology to crack down on harm and ensure high standards,” he said. “I’m proud of our achievements over the course of our last strategy: the biggest changes to listing rules in 30+ years, making it easier for companies to raise capital, ensuring good outcomes under the Consumer Duty, and cutting authorisation times for firms that meet 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.”

Among the FCA’s key achievements in the past year was its work to reduce and prevent serious harm across the financial services sector. Two major banks were fined over £45.5 million combined for failures involving sanction controls and anti-money laundering procedures. The authority also issued 2,240 alerts regarding unauthorised individuals and firms and actively pursued social media influencers who violated financial promotion rules—interviewing 20 under caution and publishing 38 formal warnings.

Under the Consumer Duty initiative, the FCA drove better outcomes for consumers, including securing £70 million in savings for policyholders by addressing concerns in the GAP insurance market. It also introduced rules to protect access to cash, resulting in enhanced services across 200 communities.

To bolster consumer trust and combat greenwashing, the FCA implemented a new anti-greenwashing rule, prompting many firms to revise their marketing and promotional materials in order to avoid misleading claims about sustainability-focused financial products.

On the competition front, the FCA ushered in sweeping reforms to modernise the UK’s capital markets. This included the most substantial changes to the listing regime in over 30 years, the creation of a new private stock exchange, and updates to the prospectus regulations. The regulator also played a central role in the global effort to phase out LIBOR, confirming the permanent cessation of all 35 benchmarks—steps aimed at strengthening market integrity and future-proofing the financial system.

Efficiency in regulatory approvals has also seen marked progress. In the fourth quarter of the 2024/25 fiscal year, the FCA determined over 99% of authorisation applications within the required statutory timelines, a significant step forward in improving access and responsiveness within the financial sector.

By fLEXI tEAM