Financial promotions checklist: 20 checks before a UK promotion goes out
Before a UK promotion goes out, check five things: who may communicate it, whether it's fair, clear and not misleading, its risk warnings, its evidence and its record.
In short
- Start with who is communicating the promotion and on what basis: as an authorised firm, with an authorised firm's approval or under an exemption.
- Judge it as the audience will see it, on the channel it will run on. Information required to be prominent should, where possible, be visible without clicking through.
- Some products carry prescribed warnings and incentive bans, notably CFDs, cryptoassets and other high-risk investments.
- Keep a record of every promotion communicated or approved: three years by default, five for MiFID business, longer for pensions and life policies (COBS 4.11.1R).
This checklist applies to investment promotions under COBS 4, whether a firm communicates or approves them. Credit, banking, insurance, mortgage and claims management promotions follow the equivalent rules in CONC 3, BCOBS 2, ICOBS 2, MCOB 3A and CMCOB 3, and the same questions apply. For the rules behind it, see financial promotions: the UK rules explained.
The 20 checks fall into five questions, asked in order. Tick each check as you go.
- Can it be communicated at all?Checks 1 to 4: the promotion, the communicator, any approval and every market it reaches.
- Will the audience understand it?Checks 5 to 8: fair, clear and not misleading for these people, on this channel.
- Are the risks as prominent as the benefits?Checks 9 to 12: balance, font size, capital at risk and prescribed warnings.
- Do the claims stand up?Checks 13 to 18: evidence, restricted words, comparisons, past performance, costs and incentives.
- Is the decision on record?Checks 19 and 20: the approver's name and date, and the record kept.
Can it be communicated at all?
- Is it a financial promotion? Does it, in the course of business, invite or induce someone to engage in investment activity (FSMA section 21(1))? If it does, everything below applies.
- Who is communicating it? An authorised firm may communicate its own promotions. An unauthorised business, including an affiliate or influencer, needs an exemption or an authorised firm's approval. Since 7 February 2024, the approver must hold the FCA's permission to approve for others, unless an exemption covers it (section 21(2) and (2A)). See section 21 approval and the gateway.
- If you are approving it for someone else: have you confirmed it complies before approving, and planned how you will monitor it and require quarterly attestations while it runs (COBS 4.10.2R)?
- Which markets does it reach? A promotion from abroad is caught if it is capable of having an effect in the UK (section 21(3)). A promotion that reaches other countries may need to meet their rules too.
Will the audience understand it?
- Fair, clear and not misleading for this audience. “A firm must ensure that a communication or a financial promotion is fair, clear and not misleading” (COBS 4.2.1R(1)). How it applies depends on the means of communication and the nature of the client (COBS 4.2.2G, guidance).
- Likely to be understood. Information must be “sufficient for, and presented in a way that is likely to be understood by, the average member of the group to whom it is directed, or by whom it is likely to be received” (COBS 4.5.2R(3); COBS 4.5A.3R(2)(d) for MiFID business). Under the Consumer Duty, communications must equip retail customers “to make decisions that are effective, timely and properly informed” (PRIN 2A.5.3R).
- Identifiable as a promotion. It must be “clearly identifiable as such” (COBS 4.3.1R), and under the CAP Code “obviously identifiable” as marketing (CAP 2.1). On social media, paid posts need a clear label.
- Standalone on its channel. Each post or advert must comply on its own, and information that is required to be prominent should, where possible, be displayed “without needing click-through or any other optional action to view it” (FG24/1, paragraphs 2.20 and 2.29). Check the format the customer actually sees, on mobile.
Are the risks as prominent as the benefits?
- Balanced. It must give “a fair and prominent indication of any relevant risks when referencing any potential benefits” (COBS 4.5.2R(2); COBS 4.5A.3R(2)(b) for MiFID business).
- Risk text at least as large. The risk indication must use “a font size … at least equal to the predominant font size used throughout the information provided”, in a prominent layout (COBS 4.5.2R(5); COBS 4.5A.3R(2)(c) for MiFID business). Benefits in the image or video with risks only in the caption do not give the risks sufficient prominence (FG24/1, paragraph 2.27).
- Capital at risk said plainly. A promotion for a product that puts capital at risk should make that clear (COBS 4.2.4G(1), guidance).
- The prescribed warning, word for word. CFDs, spread bets and rolling spot forex have prescribed warnings in COBS 22.5.6R (CFD risk warning wording). Cryptoassets and other restricted mass market investments have them in COBS 4.12A.11R (crypto promotion rules). High-cost short-term credit has its own in CONC 3.4.1R.
Do the claims stand up?
- Evidence for every claim. Hold the evidence for each statement of fact or figure before the promotion goes out, linked to the words it supports. An unsupported claim risks breaching the fair, clear and not misleading rule (COBS 4.2.1R), and the CAP Code requires documentary evidence for objective claims (CAP 3.7).
- No “guaranteed”, “protected” or “secure” unless the term is a fair description and the promotion gives everything needed to make it so (COBS 4.2.5G, guidance).
- Comparisons meaningful and sourced. For MiFID business, a comparison must be “meaningful and presented in a fair and balanced way”, with its sources specified and its key facts and assumptions included (COBS 4.5A.7R). Credit promotions must also present any comparison in a fair and balanced way that is meaningful (CONC 3.3.1R(1B)).
- Past performance done properly. Not the most prominent feature; at least the preceding five years, or the whole period if shorter, in complete 12-month periods; the period and source stated; and a prominent warning that the figures refer to the past and that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results (COBS 4.6.2R; COBS 4.5A.10R for MiFID business).
- Costs clear. Where the charging structure is complex, the promotion should include what is needed to make it fair, clear and not misleading (COBS 4.2.4G(3), guidance). The FCA's good and poor practice findings on CFD firms, published on 15 October 2026, say that “firms do not explain their costs prominently enough in the client journey” (FCA).
- No banned incentives. No bonuses or other incentives for retail clients in promotions of CFDs (COBS 22.5.20R) or of restricted mass market investments, including cryptoassets (COBS 4.12A.7R).
Is the decision on record?
- Names and approval date. Information to retail clients must include the firm's name and, where relevant, the date the promotion was approved (COBS 4.5.2R(1) and (1A)). An approved promotion likely to reach retail clients must include the name of the firm that approved it and the date of approval (COBS 4.10.7AG). Where a digital format cannot fit them, a link in the form “Approver FRN” to a page carrying them is allowed (COBS 4.5.2AR).
- The record kept. A firm must make an adequate record of each promotion it communicates or approves, other than those made in an interactive dialogue, and keep it for three years by default; five years for MiFID or equivalent third country business; six for life policies and pension schemes; and indefinitely for pension transfers, conversions, opt-outs and free-standing additional voluntary contributions (COBS 4.11.1R). Image advertising and non-retail communications are outside the rule. A useful record also shows the version approved, the issues raised, how each was resolved and who decided.
Checking promotions at volume
The same 20 checks apply to a single banner and to a thousand affiliate posts. Connor runs the first pass. It works out which rules apply to each promotion from the firm's home regulator, its markets and its products, quotes the words each finding is about, cites the rule and gives the fix. A named approver at the firm decides, and Connor keeps the record.
Questions people ask
Is there an official FCA financial promotions checklist?
No. The FCA sets rules and guidance; it does not publish a single checklist for firms. This checklist is our structure, built from the rules each check cites.
How long must a firm keep records of its financial promotions?
Under COBS 4.11.1R: indefinitely for pension transfers, pension conversions, pension opt-outs and free-standing additional voluntary contributions (FSAVCs); six years for life policies and pension schemes; five years for MiFID or equivalent third country business; and three years in other cases. Some communications are outside the rule, such as image advertising and promotions made in an interactive dialogue.
Does a promotion need to show who approved it?
Yes, if an authorised firm approved it and it is likely to reach retail clients: it must include the name of the firm that approved it and the date of approval (COBS 4.10.7AG, referring to COBS 4.5.2R). In digital formats where these cannot reasonably fit, they may be given on a linked page, with the link in the format “Approver FRN [firm reference number of the firm that approved or confirmed the compliance of the financial promotion]” (COBS 4.5.2AR).
Sources
20 sources, read on
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, section 21Legislation
- COBS 4.2: fair, clear and not misleading communicationsRule · Includes guidance at 4.2.2G, 4.2.4G and 4.2.5G
- COBS 4.3.1R: promotions to be identifiable as suchRule
- COBS 4.5.2R: communicating with retail clientsRule
- COBS 4.5.2AR: approver details in digital mediaRule
- COBS 4.5A.3R: MiFID information to clientsRule
- COBS 4.5A.7R: MiFID comparisonsRule
- COBS 4.5A.10R: past performance, MiFID businessRule
- COBS 4.6.2R: past performanceRule
- COBS 4.10.2R: approving financial promotionsRule
- COBS 4.10.7AG: approver's name and dateGuidance
- COBS 4.11.1R: record keepingRule
- COBS 4.12A: restricted mass market investmentsRule
- COBS 22.5: restricted speculative investments (CFDs)Rule
- CONC 3.3.1R: consumer credit promotionsRule
- PRIN 2A.5: Consumer Duty, consumer understandingRule
- FG24/1: financial promotions on social mediaGuidance · 26 March 2024
- CAP Code, section 2: recognition of marketing communicationsRule · Advertising Standards Authority
- CAP Code, section 3: misleading advertisingRule · Advertising Standards Authority
- Contracts for difference firms: good and poor practicePublication · 15 October 2026
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.
