How creative governance help brands stay compliant with UK FinProm regulations

Since the FCA's FinProm regime (PS23/6) came into force, financial services—particularly in crypto, fintech, and investment—have been under pressure to ensure every asset meets a significantly higher compliance bar.

The stakes are real. GDPR non-compliance fines hit €5.65 billion in 2025, and enforcement isn't easing up. For financial brands, the cost of getting it wrong is only going one way.

Compliance has never been optional. Get it wrong, and the damage — to your brand, your budget, or both — tends to compound.

What FinProm requires and why it’s not as simple as it seems

The FinProm policy is clear on how financial promotions must be communicated. Brands are required to ensure all marketing meets expectations:

• Clear, fair, and not misleading
• Accompanied by appropriate risk warnings
•  Approved by an authorised person
• Free from inappropriate incentives (Like “refer a friend” bonus)

This applies amongst all channels: Paid media, organic social, influencer content, landing pages, email campaigns and more.

The problem that arises most often is scalability. A single campaign can generate dozens or even sometimes hundreds of asset variations due different formats (video, static, carousel), platform-specific edits, regional variations, or influencer adaptations.

In 2024, the former director of London Capital & Finance was fined £31,800 and banned from working in financial services due to misled financial promotions.

The bottom line is that each of these assets must, at all times, remain compliant. Even the smallest inconsistency or unapproved edit can introduce a certain amount of risk.

Why traditional governance fall short

Most organisations are unaware of new policies, relying on legacy structures until they are hit with an unexpected fine. These outdated methods include:

• Capital management controls
• Cybersecurity frameworks (90-day review cycles)
• Manual legal approval workflows
• Static brand guidelines

While these systems might be critical from a business standpoint, they are not designed for high-volume creative production. Before, these would have been sufficient enough to oversee policies or systems. But with tighter regulations, companies need to operate compliance at a real-time production-level across multiple channels.

A more tailored solution: Effective creative governance

To meet FinProm requirements at scale, governance tools can help to mitigate risks throughout the creative process:  

1.     Risk disclaimers: Dot your i’s and cross your T&Cs. Not having the right disclaimers is enough to land you in hot water. This is why using computer vision to get the right wording for the right ad, and on the right platform, is essential. 

2.     Approved messaging: Brand messaging needs to be compliant as well as on-brand. Using tech to do this ensures alignment between marketing, legal, and compliance teams with defined parameters rather than interpretation.

3.      Version control: One of FinProm compliance biggest risks is version drift. Creative governance provides visibility and tracking across asset variations, and ensures that only compliant assets are being used.

Rather than relying on last-step manual checks, creative governance embeds compliance from start to finish. This ensures every asset—regardless of format, platform, or variation—adheres to the same brand, platform and regulatory standard.

Looking for an easy governance fix? 

Strong creative governance keeps brands on track and out of trouble. But avoiding fines is just the starting point.

Traditional compliance models have always been passive—create first, review later. Build governance directly into the workflow, and the focus shifts entirely. Assets aren't just checked, they're nurtured. Put to work in the best way possible, from the moment they're made.

With the right process in place, content velocity and volume stop being a source of anxiety. Creative freedom actually increases—teams can use every asset at their disposal, lean into AI with confidence, and stop second-guessing themselves.

Want to see how you can transform your governance? Book a demo with our team today.

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