The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has offered guidance on how financial promotions should be communicated on social media.

Financial promotions on all advertising channels should be fair, clear and not misleading, and support consumer understanding.

The FCA’s financial promotion rules are technology neutral and apply across all channels used to advertise, including social media.

‘We want firms to ensure that promotions provide a balanced view of the benefits and risks, and clearly communicate information that will help consumers make effective, well-informed decisions,’ the authority said in a statement.

It added: ‘Unauthorised persons, such as social media influencers, who promote a regulated financial product or service without approval of an appropriate FCA-authorised person may be committing a criminal offence. We also include perimeter guidance to provide additional clarity on when a communication might constitute a financial promotion’.

The guidance will be relevant to authorised persons involved in communicating or approving financial promotions on social media.

Unauthorised persons, including influencers or other affiliate marketers, involved in communicating financial promotions on social media.

Also, trade bodies that represent the two aforementioned groups.

The FCA recognises that social media is an increasingly important part of firms’ marketing strategies and has allowed them to reach a large audience with greater speed and frequency than ever before. However, it is concerned that poor quality financial promotions on social media can lead to significant consumer harm due to their wide reach and the complex nature of many financial products and services.