Financial promotions compliance software: 11 tools compared
AI review tools flag what may breach the rules; workflow tools route sign-off and keep the record. We compare 11, including Connor, from what each vendor publishes.
In short
- Check coverage against your own regulators and markets. Most vendors name their regulators on their website.
- Ask each tool to show the rule behind a finding, linked to the regulator's text, so an approver can check it.
- If affiliates, introducers or influencers promote you, you need monitoring after launch as well as review before it.
- None of the vendors here publishes a price list. Those that describe their pricing base it on volume, modules, workflow or users.
- Ask for security certifications and integrations with the tools your marketers already use.
We make Connor, one of the tools on this page. Every fact about another vendor comes from that vendor's own website, its published announcements or press coverage, read on 23 October 2026, and is attributed to it. Where a vendor does not say something, the tables say “not stated” rather than “no”; that does not mean the vendor lacks it. If you represent a vendor and something here is wrong or out of date, email hi@runconnor.com and we will correct it.
What Connor does
Before the comparison, here is what we built Connor to do:
- Rules from the regulator's own text206,492 provisions from 35 regulators and legislatures, collected from each one's official source. Each finding cites the rule and links to it where the regulator publishes it.
- Only the rules that applyConnor works out which of its 548 rules apply from your home regulator, your markets and your products, and shows you before the check runs.
- Nine jurisdictions, including ADGMThe UK, EU, Cyprus, Ireland, the US, Australia, the UAE onshore, DIFC and ADGM.
- Live in about a weekYour first week is a free trial, and we spend an hour a week with you for the first month.
The two kinds of tool
They read the promotion itself (the copy, the image, the video) and flag what may breach the rules, usually with a suggested fix. A person still decides.
They manage the process around the decision: submission, routing to approvers, version history, expiry dates and the record of each promotion that COBS 4.11.1R requires.
AI review tools
Connor comes first because it's ours; the others are in alphabetical order.
| Tool | Based | Coverage it states | Monitoring after launch | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor | London | Promotions checked in 9 jurisdictions (UK, EU, Cyprus, Ireland, US, Australia, UAE, DIFC and ADGM); rules from 35 regulators and legislatures | affiliates' and influencers' social accounts, hashtag searches and websites | Not published: a monthly fee plus credits per check |
| Adclear | London (as reported by Tech.eu) | 11 jurisdictions and 39 regulators on its coverage page, including the FCA, FINRA, SEC and the DFSA | “affiliate sites, social, Discord, Telegram, and web-published content” | Not published: “based on volume and workflow configuration” |
| Finspector | London | The FCA | TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, influencers and third parties | Not stated |
| Haast | Not stated | Names FINRA, the FCA, UDAAP and the Consumer Duty | “Monitor all live assets and channels for compliance issues”, including partners and influencers | Not stated |
| Hadrius | US | “Built for SEC- and FINRA-regulated firms” | Not stated for published marketing; supervises “email, chat, and social” | Not stated |
| Red Marker | US, UK and Australia; an IntelligenceBank company | Rule libraries for FINRA, the SEC, CFPB, FCA, ESMA and MiFID II | “monitoring both your own websites and third party websites” | Not published: “Request pricing” |
| Saifr | “Incubated at Fidelity Investments” | “FINRA 2210”, “SEC 482” and the “SEC Modernized Marketing Rule”; also offers adverse media screening and communications surveillance | Not stated | Not published: “License pricing available per user or enterprise” |
| Sedric | US | Lists UDAAP, Reg Z, the CFPB, SEC, FINRA, FCA, ESMA, MiFID and MiCA | partner and affiliate content | Not published: “priced by modules and volume” |
Workflow tools
| Tool | What it does | AI review |
|---|---|---|
| ComplyPortal | An approvals module with workflows, checklists and reports for FCA firms; registers are a separate module | “Document Scanning AI” with preset rules |
| Perivan Enable | A brand and content platform with approval workflows for financial promotions, including access for adviser and broker networks | Not stated |
| Ruleguard | A financial promotions module on a wider compliance platform: submission, multi-stage routing, register, version tracking, expiry and archive | Mentions “AI-powered compliance for financial promotions” and lists “ISO 42001 for AI management systems”; the page does not say how the AI works |
How the AI tools differ
Where do the rules come from? Some tools apply rules and policies the customer configures; others maintain rulebooks built from regulators' text; some do both. Whichever you trial, ask it to show the rule behind a finding, quoted and linked.
Who decides? Every tool here leaves the decision with the firm. Ask each vendor how its record shows who approved what. A firm that approves promotions for unauthorised businesses must also be able to show it confirmed compliance first (COBS 4.10.2R).
Which formats? Most tools review images and text. Test video and audio carefully: whether the tool reads what is said, not only the caption, and how long a video it accepts.
Which markets? Ask for the rulebooks behind your own markets, and whether a promotion running in two markets is checked against both.
What happens after launch? If affiliates, introducers or influencers promote you, their posts need checking too. Ask which networks a tool watches and how often, and whether it can tell a post about your firm from one that is not.
Which is best for you
| If you are… | …start with |
|---|---|
| A UK or EU firm with high volumes across formats, and affiliates to watch | Connor, Adclear, Finspector, Haast, Red Marker and Sedric, side by side on your own promotions. |
| A US firm under FINRA and SEC rules | Hadrius, which says it is “Built for SEC- and FINRA-regulated firms”, and Saifr, which names FINRA 2210 and the SEC's rules. Connor, Adclear, Haast, Red Marker and Sedric also name US regulators. |
| A firm that needs a register and sign-off process first | ComplyPortal, Perivan Enable and Ruleguard. |
| Promoting in the UAE, DIFC or ADGM | Connor or Adclear. Connor checks the CMA's, the Central Bank's and VARA's rules onshore, the DFSA's in DIFC and the FSRA's in ADGM. Adclear lists the Securities and Commodities Authority (now the Capital Market Authority), the Central Bank of the UAE and the DFSA. |
Before you choose, run the same set of real promotions through each shortlisted tool, including some you know fail, and compare what each one finds and how it explains the finding.
Questions people ask
What is the best financial promotions compliance software?
There is no single best tool. For UK and EU firms that need AI review across formats and monitoring of affiliates, compare Connor, Adclear, Finspector, Haast, Red Marker and Sedric on your own promotions. For US firms under FINRA and SEC rules, look at Saifr and Hadrius as well. If you mainly need a register and approval workflow, look at Ruleguard, ComplyPortal and Perivan Enable.
Does the FCA approve compliance software?
No. The FCA does not approve or endorse compliance software, and the firm stays responsible for every promotion it communicates or approves, whatever tool it uses.
Can AI approve financial promotions?
No. A firm stays responsible for every promotion it communicates or approves, whatever tool it uses. When it approves another business's promotion under section 21, COBS 4.10.2R requires it to confirm compliance first. AI tools flag issues; a person at the firm decides.
Sources
21 sources, read on
- Connor: financial promotionsVendor
- Connor: affiliates and live contentVendor
- AdclearVendor
- Adclear: global coverageVendor
- Adclear: aboutVendor
- Adclear raises €2.4M to apply AI in financial promotions complianceOther · Tech.eu, 13 November 2025
- FinspectorVendor
- HaastVendor
- HadriusVendor
- Red MarkerVendor
- Red Marker: pricingVendor
- SaifrVendor
- SaifrReviewVendor
- Saifr: about usVendor
- SedricVendor
- Sedric: pricingVendor
- ComplyPortal: financial promotionsVendor
- Perivan EnableVendor
- Ruleguard: financial promotionsVendor
- COBS 4.10.2R: approving financial promotionsRule
- COBS 4.11.1R: record keepingRule
This page explains the rules; it is not legal advice. Rules change: read the provision itself before relying on it. If you find an error, email hi@runconnor.com and we will correct it.
James Zhao
Co-founder, ConnorJames is a co-founder of Connor. After a corporate career at Barclays and KPMG as a software engineer, he built and exited his own software company. He has spent the last three years at the forefront of AI, and the most recent of them building AI-native products and the agent platform behind Connor.
Kashif Rafiq
Co-founder, ConnorKashif is a co-founder of Connor. He spent his career inside two of the most heavily monitored industries there are, investment banking at Goldman Sachs and energy at BP, working on the security and technology systems that keep regulated communications and data under control. He now builds Connor, which checks financial promotions against the rules that apply to them.
