Finfluencers offer benefits but prosecution takes priority, says FCA

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) acknowledged that there are benefits to working with ‘finfluencersʼ, but said prosecuting those that make false claims and promote products without financial qualifications remains a priority for the watchdog.

Appearing at a parliamentary inquiry before the Treasury Committee on June 10, Rathi and FCA chair Ashley Alder were questioned whether the rise of finfluencers reflects the limited access to regulated financial advice in the UK.

Rathi said finfluencers had “positive benefits” such as reaching “audiences that might be otherwise hard to reach”.

“The rise of digital channels is not going to change. We are actually working with some finfluencers to provide [financial] information with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA),” he added.

However, the FCA chief admitted that there were barriers to accessing financial advisers in the UK. Only 2.8% of UK adults with savings of less than £10,000 have access to regulated financial advice, according to the FCAʼs 2024 Financial Lives survey published on May 16.

This is “significantly” lower than the proportion of UK adults with over £10,000 in savings who have access, at 28%.

Collaboration with finfluencers

The FCA and ASA issued an infographic to warn influencers of their obligations when promoting financial products in April 2023. The UK watchdog spent £13,050 on the project, including creation, talent fees and agency fees.

The FCA spokesperson told Compliance Corylated: “We want to work with influencers so that they keep on the right side of the law. They can also help us get the message out that people should avoid buying into unauthorised investments hyped-up online as they may be a scam”.

Finfluencer lawsuits

In support of the global action week that began on June 2, the FCA took several enforcement-related actions on finfluencers, including making three arrests and initiating three criminal proceedings. It has a record high of 21 prosecution cases in 2024/25, covering finfluencers, crypto-assets and money laundering crimes.

Although the UK watchdog has stepped up prosecutions, the main challenge remains the lengthy wait for a criminal court trial date, with lawsuits consuming resources to keep the cases active. The first round of finfluencer court cases are scheduled to commence in 2027.

“Justice deferred is justice denied,” said Rathi. “The longer it takes to bring these cases to a conclusion, the more difficult it is for us to have a deterrent effect, but that’s a problem for the justice system in general.”

Alder noted that the prosecutions target “finfluencers engaged in sales”, which is separate from the FCA’s ongoing actions on big tech platforms. “To clarify our position on enforcement, we have to — for example — prosecute finfluencers, which is very different from the persuasive approach we take with [big tech] platforms.”

Financial education?

The Treasury Committee suggested the emergence of finfluencers could reflect a wider societal problem of financial education, particularly among “younger” generations. “Financial education is a vexing question that we all, part of this committee, would be frustrated by,” said John Glen MP, a former economic secretary to HM Treasury.

Rathi acknowledged that compared to international peers, the UK still has “work to be done”. He highlighted that, even if the FCA is not leading efforts, financial education is a “critical part” of its focus for the coming years.

Rathi revealed that he recently met with Oliver Morley, chief executive of the Money and Pensions Service. They are working together on the pensions dashboards and the MoneyHelper service, and engaging with finfluencers that provide “high-quality” materials.

UPDATE: This article was updated at 11:25 on June 16, 2025, in paragraph 7-8, to clarify details of the FCA’s collaboration with finfluencers.