Financial Promotions Using New Media
My previous mention of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had suggested they would survive the new government in the UK. This is no longer the case as the FSA is to be broken up by 2012.
But regulation continues for the moment and, following a review undertaken in February, the FSA has published a new update on Financial Promotions Using New Media. New media communication channels include "social networking websites (Twitter and Facebook), forums, blogs and i-phone applications". So presumably any web site or mobile phone application where a regulated firm communicates.
The guidance explains the rules relating to the content of communications (e.g. stand-alone compliance and communication rules contained in COBS 4, BCOBS 2, ICOBS 2 and MCOB 3) are no different than for other media, and includes non-promotional communication such as directly with existing clients.
So what extra guidance for new media is there? The document highlights:
- regular reviews are required to ensure information is up-to-date
- some channels may be inappropriate for the particular communication to ensure it is balanced and provides sufficient information (e.g. Twitter where the length of each message is very restricted)
- consideration as to how risk information can be highlighted varies across the channels.
The FSA notes that most new media communications does not benefit from the exemptions for image advertising.
Posted on: 25 June 2010 at 09:38 hrs
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