The FCA’s international crackdown on illegal ‘finfluencer’ promotions resulted in three arrests over the past year and 650 social media ‘takedown’ requests, according to the FCA’s annual report and accounts published today.
The regulator said it also secured a combined 11 years in prison for two cases of insider dealing in the first year of its 5-year anti-fraud strategy.
Investment fraud remains a priority, the FCA said, but dealing with it is a major job and numbers of investment fraud warnings were up despite the efforts.Â
During the past year, the FCA issued 2,329 warnings about unauthorised or potentially scam firms, nearly 100 up from the 2,240 warnings in 2024.Â
Some 17 criminal convictions were secured during the year, including for fraud, insider dealing, money laundering and other offences. Two individuals received a combined 11 years’ imprisonment for insider dealing and money laundering while 12 individuals were fined a total of £1.77m for market abuse offences.
A co-ordinated ‘week of action’ on finfluencers, involving nine international regulators in June 2025, resulted in three arrests, six criminal proceedings, 11 targeted warning or cease-and-desist letters, 50 warning list alerts and 650 social media takedown requests.
The FCA said its fight against serious risks and harms has delivered an estimated £5.6bn in benefits to consumers, firms and the wider economy.
The FCA said during the past year it significantly strengthened consumer protection through the launch of its Firm Checker, a tool to that helps consumers quickly check whether a firm is authorised to avoid dealing with fraudulent firms. It estimates the tool has been used over 1.9m times since its introduction in January 2025.
Spurred by an advertising campaign at the start of 2026, firm warning messages helped protect an average of 694 consumers each week – an increase of 49%, the watchdog said.
Over the 12 months, the FCA says in its report it also:
• Confirmed final rules to support more consumers in making pensions and investment decisions, with at least 18 million consumers expected to benefit over the next decade
• Delivered estimated savings of around £157m a year for consumers paying monthly insurance premiums, using Consumer Duty fair-value rules
• It began major mortgage reforms
Ashley Alder, chair of the FCA, said: “We have made a strong start to our 5-year strategy. We set out to focus our efforts where they matter most – protecting consumers, maintaining market integrity and supporting a competitive economy. The progress we’ve made in the first year demonstrates that a focused and decisive regulator delivers real benefits for consumers and supports growth.”
Nikhil Rathi, FCA chief executive, said: ‘In the past year we’ve shut down scams, pursued those who abuse markets through the courts, helped hundreds of thousands of consumers access better financial products and cut the cost of regulation for tens of thousands of firms. We’ve made greater use of data and technology to detect harm earlier and expanded our international presence to support UK financial services. There is more to do, but this is a solid foundation.”
The FCA also fined firms about £14.4m for transaction reporting failures and control weaknesses and issued a £42m fine to Barclays for anti-money laundering failures.
The number of customers removed as money mules rose by 4.4% compared to last year, reaching 222,173 across 35 firms, the FCA said.
The FCA also says it delivered nearly 50 pro-growth measures in 2025. It received 132 applications to its ‘AI Supercharged Regulatory Sandbox’ and launched a scale-up unit, alongside the PRA, to help firms grow sustainably.
It approved two firms to operate under a new private markets framework (PISCES), with two more firms in the pipeline. The FCA also expanded its international presence through new offices in the US, Asia-Pacific and Singapore.
The FCA launched a single digital entry point for regulated firms to manage regulatory tasks. It also decommissioned what it called outdated reporting returns across more than 90% of regulated firms, delivering a £16m annual saving in reporting costs. The regulator also replaced 43 portfolio letters with 9 focused market reports setting out clear regulatory priorities for each sector.
In a nod to the future, the regulator also said that AI automation has already cut the time it takes to handle simpler cases from up to 4 hours to about 6 minutes on average, allowing supervisors to focus on more important work.
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