Financial influencers: Influencer agreements and FCA compliance

Latest developments – FCA crackdown on finfluencers

In June 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) led an international enforcement operation targeting illegal financial promotions by influencers. This global sweep, conducted in collaboration with regulators from 18 countries, focused on so-called “finfluencers” promoting get-rich-quick investment schemes online, often without proper authorisation.

The crackdown followed a sharp rise in consumer complaints linked to misleading social media content, particularly on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The FCA confirmed it worked with these platforms to remove unlawful posts and issued 35 public warnings to firms and individuals.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, stated:

Finfluencers are trusted by the people who follow them, often young and potentially vulnerable people attracted to the lifestyle they flaunt. Finfluencers need to check the products they promote to ensure they are not breaking the law and putting their followers' livelihoods and life savings at risk.

The regulator reiterated that promoting financial products without the appropriate authorisation or FCA-approved content is a criminal offence – punishable by fines, imprisonment, or both.

Instagram trading scheme trial

In July 2024, news broke that former reality TV stars were facing a 2027 trial for promoting an unauthorised trading scheme on Instagram. The case brought national attention to the regulatory risks associated with influencer-led financial marketing and highlighted the FCA’s growing scrutiny of such activity.

This high-profile prosecution underscores the wider pressure on financial influencers, often referred to as “finfluencers”, to comply with UK financial promotion laws. The FCA has consistently warned influencers and the firms that engage them to ensure that all promotional content is lawful, transparent, and not misleading.

Together, these developments show that UK regulators are no longer treating online financial promotions as a soft-touch issue. Enforcement is here – and it’s global.

Who can approve financial promotions?

Only authorised persons can approve financial promotions to be made by unauthorised persons. Authorised persons are entities that have received permission from the FCA to communicate or approve financial promotions under the financial promotions gateway in the context of carrying out regulated activities. 

Social media guidance for FCA-authorised persons and unauthorised influencers 

The FCA’s guidance for firms it regulates, as well as unauthorised influencers, sets out its expectations in relation to social media financial promotions. The guidance reiterates, amongst other things, that adverts must be fair, clear, and not misleading. This means that, despite the limited space on some social media platforms, each advert must be ‘standalone compliant’ by having the right balance and containing the appropriate risk warnings.  

Social media audiences should be equipped with enough information from the promotion to enable them to make effective, timely and properly informed decisions. The FCA has updated existing guidance to take account of some new features of social media and to re-enforce the Consumer Duty and obligations under the Financial Promotions regulations.  

The updated guidance also provides examples of compliant and non-compliant social media adverts, to assist influencers in complying with the guidance. 

Under financial services laws it is illegal to communicate a financial promotion unless:  

1. You are an authorised person, i.e., you have permission from the FCA to carry out regulated activities; or 
2. The content of the financial promotion has been approved by an authorised person; or  
3. An exemption applies (guidance which can be found in the FCA’s Perimeter Guidance manual at PERG 8.11, which provides the regulator’s views on compliance with regulations).  

The FCA’s guidance is also aimed at influencers who: 

• Are directly compensated by an authorised person, its affiliates, or a social media platform for promoting the firm’s services. 
• Promote a firm’s services with a view to future profit (for example, a future relationship with the firm where the influencer does not have an existing affiliation with the firm). 
• Promote chat rooms or investment products in which they have a commercial interest or from which they benefit. 

As a result, a firm working with influencers needs to take responsibility for how its influencers communicate financial promotions, including by way of appropriate monitoring and oversight.  This can be an extensive task as the law has a wide territorial scope, covering communications made outside the UK if they are capable of having an effect within the UK. 

Poor social media advertising practices identified by the FCA include: 

• Promotions that contain all of the benefits within the video or image content, whilst the associated risks are not given the same prominence (for example, only being detailed in a caption below the content).  Such promotions lack balance and are likely to be unfair and/or misleading. 
• Failing to tailor a communication to the characteristics of the target market and communication channel, to ensure that they are likely to be understood. 
• Promotions that do not include prominently placed fee information. 
• Promotions that include incentives to invest (there are prohibited). 
• Leaving it to unregulated affiliates (including influencers) to ensure that promotions are communicated in compliance with the FCA’s rules. 
• Little or no ongoing monitoring of communications made by affiliates (including influencers) to ensure that they remain compliant during their lifetime. 

Identified issues in poor promotions

The FCA has criticised several practices as non-compliant, including:

• Emphasising benefits in the main content (e.g. video) while relegating risk warnings to the caption or fine print.
• Failing to adapt the content to the target audience or platform.
• Omitting or obscuring fee disclosures.
• Using incentives.
• Relying on unregulated affiliates to comply with FCA rules.
• Not monitoring influencer content after initial publication.
• Promoting schemes in a “get-rich-quick” style, especially to vulnerable or inexperienced audiences.

Influencer agreements and complying with FCA rules

The consequences for breaching the financial promotions regime are severe: criminal prosecution, unlimited fines, or imprisonment of up to two years. In light of the FCA’s recent enforcement push, this area is now clearly high-risk.

As the FCA warns, “firms are on the hook for all their promotions.” A brand or regulated firm could face enforcement action for an influencer’s non-compliant post.

Well-drafted influencer agreements are essential. They should clearly define the influencer’s obligations, including:

• Adherence to financial promotions laws.
• Content approval procedures.
• Compliance with FCA, Advertising Standards Authority, and Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) advertising codes guidance.
• Ongoing monitoring and reporting obligations.
• Breach consequences and indemnities.

The recent FCA-led international crackdown only strengthens the case for having robust contractual safeguards. Regulated firms must take proactive steps to ensure influencers understand the product, the regulatory risks, and their own legal duties.

How can we help you?

It is good practice to have an influencer marketing agreement in place to ensure that your influencers comply with the rules. Our commercial solicitors can assist you with this so that your influencer agreements include appropriate obligations and provisions dealing with breaches of the rules and those obligations by the influencer.  

If you are using an influencer to communicate financial promotions, they must understand your product and the regulatory requirements they must adhere to, and you must ensure you monitor their activity effectively. 

Our Financial Services solicitors can provide additional support when drafting your influencer agreements to reflect the FCA’s guidance on financial promotions. They can also help you keep up to date with the FCA’s requirements to ensure that both you and your influencers are compliant.