Earlier this week, on 20 July 2020, HM Treasury published a consultation on the regulatory framework for the approval of financial promotions.
HM Treasury says that experience in recent years suggests the regime needs “additional safeguards to ensure that approval by an authorised person is a genuinely effective means of ensuring that consumers are protected from deficient or potentially harmful financial promotions“.
To strengthen the Financial Conduct Authority’s ability to ensure the approval of financial
promotions operates effectively, the Government proposes to establish a regulatory ‘gateway’, which a firm must pass through before it is able to approve the financial promotions of unauthorised firms. Any firm wishing to approve the financial promotions of unauthorised firms would therefore first need to obtain the FCA’s consent.
The deadline for responding is 12pm on 25 October 2020.