This piece tracks the live regulatory landscape and 2024–2026 enforcement themes. For the comprehensive evergreen reference, see the FinProm Compliance pillar.

Financial Promotions Rules 2026: The State of Play

— The UK financial promotions regime in 2026 is the strictest it has ever been. The s.21 FSMA approver gateway is in steady state, the cryptoasset promotions rules have produced their first wave of enforcement, the high-risk investment regime has been tightened, and the Consumer Duty layers an outcomes test on top of every promotion. This piece sets out where the rules stand, what has changed in the last 18 months, and what the FCA is enforcing on.

Table of contents

The regime in one paragraph

In the UK, no one may communicate an invitation or inducement to engage in investment or controlled credit activity unless they are authorised, the communication has been approved by an authorised firm with permission to approve, or the communication falls within an exemption in the Financial Promotion Order. That single sentence — s.21 FSMA — is the spine of the regime. Everything else (the COBS 4 rulebook, the CONC 3 rulebook for credit, the BCOBS 2 rulebook for banking, the ICOBS 2 rulebook for insurance, the cryptoasset overlay, the high-risk overlay, the approver gateway) is regulatory architecture built on top of that spine.

The s.21 FSMA architecture

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 prohibits unauthorised financial promotions absent authorisation, approval or exemption. The regulator-facing rules sit in:

Most firms will have promotions falling under more than one of these. A neobank that also offers consumer credit and a savings product will operate under BCOBS, CONC and (for any interest-paying product marketed as an investment) potentially COBS in parallel.

The Financial Promotion Order 2005 (as amended) provides the exemptions — high net worth, sophisticated investor, one-off promotions, certified investor regimes. The s.21 exemptions for high net worth and sophisticated investors were tightened in January 2024, raising the income and asset thresholds and adding investor-statement requirements.

The approver gateway in steady state

Since 7 February 2024, an authorised firm may not approve a financial promotion for an unauthorised person unless the firm has applied for and been granted FCA permission to act as a s.21 approver. The gateway changed the market materially. Previously any authorised firm could approve. Now the firm must:

In its first 18 months, the gateway has produced a smaller, more specialised set of approvers. The FCA has been public that approvers carry a heightened responsibility and has used cancellation and supervisory engagement actively. In 2024 the FCA reported that approvers withdrew several thousand promotions in the first year of operation.

For Heads of Compliance at firms that approve, the gateway has shifted the workload from "review the promotion" to "review the issuer, the product, the audience and the promotion." Some approvers have narrowed their permitted scope (e.g., approving only equity offerings to professional investors) to manage the risk envelope.

The high-risk investment regime

PS22/10 — the high-risk investment rules — has been in force since 1 February 2023 and is bedded in for 2026.

For Restricted Mass Market Investments (RMMIs) — peer-to-peer agreements, certain non-readily realisable securities — and for Non-Mass Market Investments (NMMIs) — speculative illiquid securities, qualifying cryptoassets — promotion is subject to:

For the COBS 4.12A / 4.12B rules specifically, the FCA has signalled that breaches in this area are treated as a priority. The ban on inducements has produced enforcement; the use of "referral bonuses," "free shares" and other acquisition incentives has been a focus area.

The cryptoasset promotions regime

Since 8 October 2023, the promotion of qualifying cryptoassets to UK retail customers has been within scope of s.21 FSMA, with cryptoasset-specific rules in COBS 4.12A and 4.12B.

In 2026, the cryptoasset promotions regime is in its third year of operation. Key features:

The FCA has been the most active regulator in the world on cryptoasset promotion enforcement. Within the first 12 months of the regime it issued more than 1,500 alerts on non-compliant or unauthorised crypto promotions and worked with social media platforms on takedowns. For an operational checklist, see crypto financial promotion checklist.

Where the Consumer Duty changes the bar

A promotion that complies with the letter of COBS 4 can still fail the Consumer Duty. PRIN 2A.5 (consumer understanding) requires that the firm equip retail customers to make informed decisions. That is an outcomes test, not a content test.

In practice this means:

The interaction between FinProms and the Duty is the single most common topic in our client conversations in 2026. For worked Duty examples, including a crypto-promotion example, see FCA Consumer Duty examples. The board-reporting view on financial promotions sits in our Consumer Duty board report template.

Enforcement themes 2024-2026

Patterns the FCA has been enforcing on, broadly:

A practitioner checklist

FAQ

Who can approve a financial promotion in 2026? An authorised firm with the s.21 approver permission, granted via the gateway. Without the specific permission, an authorised firm cannot approve for an unauthorised person.

What is a "qualifying cryptoasset" for promotions purposes? A cryptographically secured digital representation of value or contractual rights that is transferable and fungible, excluding e-money tokens and specified cryptoassets that fall outside the FCA's perimeter. The definition is in COBS 4.12A.

Do the FinProms rules apply to B2B communications? The s.21 prohibition has carve-outs for communications to investment professionals, certified high net worth individuals and certain other categories in the FPO. The rulebook (COBS 4 etc.) has parallel professional-client carve-outs. B2B is not in itself an exemption.

Are LinkedIn posts financial promotions? They can be. The test is whether the communication is an invitation or inducement to engage in investment or controlled credit activity. A LinkedIn post by a salesperson promoting their firm's fund is, in most cases, in scope.

What about overseas firms promoting into the UK? Generally caught by s.21 unless an FPO exemption applies. The Overseas Persons Exclusion is narrower than many overseas firms assume.

What happens if a firm breaches the rules? Range of outcomes — supervisory engagement, requirement to amend or withdraw the promotion, public censure, financial penalty, variation of permission, criminal prosecution under s.21 in the most serious cases.

Does the Senior Managers Regime apply to financial promotions? Yes. The SMF16 typically holds the prescribed responsibility for financial promotions compliance. The SMF3 (executive director) usually retains business accountability for the activity itself.

Audit your live promotions in 24 hours

If reading this list has surfaced gaps you want to size before they surface in supervision, Sedric's free Marketing Comms Audit will take up to ten of your live promotions — across channels and rulebooks — and return a written report within 24 hours, scored against COBS 4 / CONC 3 / BCOBS 2 / ICOBS 2 / MCOB 3A, the cryptoasset overlay where relevant, and the Consumer Duty consumer-understanding outcome. Every flag is linked to the specific rule. No sales call required. Run a free comms audit.