FCA expands finfluencer enforcement with global regulatory push

By Aarav Garg

Financial Conduct Authority has led an international enforcement drive targeting illegal financial promotions by so-called ‘finfluencers’, as regulators increase scrutiny of social media-driven investment marketing.

Seventeen financial regulators have joined a coordinated “week of action” that began on 20 April 2026, targeting illegal online investment promotions and unauthorised finfluencer activity. The initiative combined enforcement action, consumer education and guidance for content creators promoting financial products.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority issued four warning letters to individuals suspected of breaching financial promotion rules. It also published 34 new warnings against unauthorised firms or individuals and updated 14 existing alerts.

Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said, “This collective push with international partners is vital in helping to protect millions of consumers from harm. We will only make real progress in the fight against financial crime if every part of the system plays its role – including social media firms.”

The FCA said it submitted 120 takedown requests to social media platforms hosting unlawful finfluencer content. Across those accounts, the regulator identified 1,267 illegal financial adverts with a reach of at least 2.3 million UK accounts. It added that 66% of the adverts were linked to firms or individuals already listed on its Warning List.

The regulator has urged social media platforms to strengthen controls around financial advertising, arguing that current enforcement of platform rules remains insufficient. Most major platforms require UK-facing financial adverts to be issued or approved by authorised firms.

The latest campaign followed a similar cross-border enforcement drive in June 2025 involving nine regulators. Authorities taking part included agencies from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

The action highlights rising regulatory concern over social-media-led distribution of investment products, where unauthorised promotions can expose consumers to fraud risks and remove access to protections such as ombudsman or compensation schemes.

Jonathan Frost, Director of Global Advisory for EMEA at BioCatch, commented, “The FCA’s enforcement action is welcome, but let’s be honest about what it is, symptom management. Meanwhile the disease, the platforms themselves, continue to replicate such potentially illegal content unchecked. Internal documents from Meta illustrate the problem. Its own systems could identify advertisers with up to a 95% likelihood of running scams, yet rather than remove them, the company applied a penalty fee allowing the ads to run at a higher cost, with internal projections estimating some $16 billion in annual revenue derived from higher-risk advertising.”