Financial products and services policies

Advertising is prohibited for the sale of credit cards, debit cards, stocks, bonds, securities and other financial items unless this is done by companies duly authorized to do so.

Advertising for financial products must adhere to local requirements. Advertising for loans must contain the registration number either in the ad copy or on the landing page.

Advertising for bitcoin services and products are prohibited.

Advertisers may not promote collective investment schemes, insurance products, stock trading. Additionally, all bank products and services must be registered in the market where they are advertised.

Advertisers must comply with all regulations as set out by the Authoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM).

All bank products and services must be registered in the market where they are advertised.

• Advertisers who promote financial products and services and who are based in the Republic of Ireland must be registered with the Financial Regulator.
• Advertisers who promote financial products and services and who are not based in the Republic of Ireland must have passported authorization from another EU/EEA Member State in order to offer services in the Republic of Ireland and be authorized by the Irish or another EU/EEA Member State.

In addition to specific disclosure requirements, deceptive acts or practices in connection with the offering of consumer financial products or services are prohibited. An advertisement is deceptive if is discloses information, or omits material information, in such a way as to be misleading to a reasonable consumer. Material terms (i.e., terms that are likely to affect a consumer’s choice of, or conduct regarding, the product or service) must be disclosed prominently, in a manner that a reasonable consumer will notice, and in close proximity with claims that such terms modify. For example, stating that a car loan is available for no money down but disclosing additional regulatory costs in fine print or buried within other disclosures can be deceptive. In addition, it can be deceptive to misrepresent the terms of a loan, either by misstating the nature of the term (e.g., fixed versus variable interest rate) or through inequitable comparisons with other loan products.

Advertisements for certain financial products and services can raise appreciable compliance concerns and may attract heightened scrutiny. Such products and services may include, but are not limited to:

• Automobile lending

Payday and other small-dollar credit (i.e., traditionally this has encompassed retail financial products that allow consumers to easily borrow small amounts of cash in return for their pledge of a check dated for the next payday as collateral. This may include short-term, low balance loans with high finance charges intended to help cover a consumer’s cash-flow shortages, usually requiring a consumer to give electronic access to their bank accounts)

• Debt settlement and debt relief (i.e., services to help renegotiate, settle or change terms of a borrower’s debt to a creditor or a debt collector)

Credit and fraud monitoring, identity theft protection services (e.g., services that provide alerts to potentially fraudulent activity or that offer credit reports)

• Credit cards targeted at students, military, and consumers with poor credit profiles (e.g., secured credit cards)
• Virtual currencies
• Brokerage services, stocks and bonds, futures, options trading services or other investment products and services

Advertisers must comply with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial
Promotion) Order 2005.

• Any advertiser carrying out a regulated activity under FSMA must be authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) including, without limitation:
  • Mortgage providers, brokers and advisors
  • Investment businesses
  • Insurance providers, brokers and advisors
  • Secured loans providers, brokers and advisors
  • Deposit takers (banks)
• Consumer credit firms must also be authorized by the FCA to carry out consumer credit activities.
• Advertisements must adhere to policies that are set out by regulators with regards to advertisement creative, including but not limited
  to the following:
  • Any inducement to invest must make clear that the value of investments is variable and can go down as well as up.
  • Ad copy that includes a specific interest rate must also include text indicating that this is the typical APR. If the typical APR interest rate is included in the ad copy, the interest rate must be immediately followed by the text "(typical APR)."