FCA Orders Freetrade to Pull Down ‘Misleading’ Social Media Promotions

Freetrade, the company offering commission-free stock trading services, has come under the scrutiny of the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol Read this Term) for ‘misleading’ promotional campaigns on social media.

The supervisory agency has flagged multiple promotional campaigns of the platform for violation of its Conduct of Business Sourcebook (COBS) rules that demands regulated financial services to ‘fair, clear and not misleading’ promotional campaigns.

According to the latest supervisory notice issued this week, the FCA wants Freetrade to remove all sponsored advertisements and posts from all social media platforms. Further, the broker needs to conform to the regulator that it has complied by submitting a list of all advertisements and posts removed.

Freetrade is headquartered in London and offers commission-free trading services, which is very similar to the popular American platform, Robinhood. It is now focused on expanding services across Europe.

Non-Compliant Ads

The tussle between the FCA and Freetrade started in March 2020 when the regulator first expressed its concern regarding the social media promotions of the company. For instance, one of the landing pages did not include a mandatory capital risk warning.

Moreover, the British regulator identified Freetrade promotion violations and communicated with the firm about the regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term breaches a year after. However, the broker continued with its social media campaigns.

“The further breaches of related financial promotion rules indicate to the Authority that the Firm did not adequately amend its approach to approving and issuing financial promotions when it conducted its internal reviews,” the latest supervisory notice revealed.

“The previous breaches related to financial promotions originated and communicated by the Firm, and the Authority considers that the financial promotions communicated by paid for or sponsored influencers also breach the financial promotion rules.”

Meanwhile, the advertising regulator of the United Kingdom has put crypto promotions on the ‘red list’ and flagged the promotional campaigns of several firms, including a famous football club, Arsenal, for misleading advertisements.