Marketing a UK fintech without breaching FCA rules

In 2024 the FCA had 19,766 financial promotions amended or withdrawn, almost double the year before. If you market a fintech to UK consumers, the financial-promotion regime is not a footnote; it is the line between compounding trust and a takedown. Here is how to market boldly and stay inside it.

The regime now has real teeth: what actually counts as a financial promotion

FCA interventions led to 19,766 authorised-firm promotions being amended or withdrawn in 2024, up 97.5% on 2023 and from under 600 in 2021, alongside roughly 1,600 scam sites closed and finfluencers put on notice. The rule underneath is section 21 of FSMA: any invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity must be made or approved by an FCA-authorised person, and it catches ads, organic posts, landing pages, email and influencer content alike. All of it must be fair, clear and not misleading.

If you touch cryptoassets: the rules are strict and specific

Since October 2023, promotions of qualifying cryptoassets to UK consumers sit in the regime as restricted mass market investments. In practice that means a mandatory consumer risk warning, a ban on incentives such as refer-a-friend and new-joiner bonuses, a 24-hour cooling-off period for first-time investors, and, if you are not authorised, a section 21 approver who signs off your promotions.

Compliance is a marketing advantage: not the legal team's clean-up job

Most agencies treat compliance as something to fix after the creative is done. We build it in from the first draft, because in financial services trust is the scarcest currency, and the brands that make disclosure part of their voice convert the very scepticism that slows their competitors. Where a claim needs compliance sign-off, we build the approval step into the content workflow before anything goes live.

Build a compliant content engine: the operating setup that keeps you safe and fast

Keep a pre-cleared claims library, route every asset through a compliance sign-off step, centre content on how things work rather than how much someone might make, and keep the evidence for every claim. If you use creators, do your finfluencer due diligence, because the FCA now intervenes on creators directly.

Plan for 2027: the regime is still changing

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 were made in February 2026, with the fuller regime expected in October 2027. The teams building compliant-marketing muscle now will move fastest when it lands.

Work with Pixelette Marketing: conversion-led content, planned around sign-off

Pixelette Marketing builds conversion-led content for fintech and Web3 brands, working alongside your legal and compliance teams so every asset moves through your approval process. Explore our fintech marketing and our SEO and content services, or tell us what needs to grow.

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