Financial services marketers and advertisers in the UK now need to be verified by Google in order to advertise online.
The Google Ads Financial Products and Services policy was updated on August 30th, with the new terms coming into force 7 days later on September 6th. The main aim of this updated policy is to tackle financial fraud whilst providing an additional measure to protect both users and legitimate advertisers.
Each firm now needs FCA authorisation or to qualify for an exemption, such as advertisers whose adverts are approved by an FCA-authorised firm.
Financial services advertisers in the UK now need to partake in a two-step process to be certified to show their ads to online searchers:
1. Apply for verification through the UK Financial Conduct Authority Authorisation
2. Submit identify verification documentation, in addition to providing proof of UK FCA authorisation for the business in question
You can read more details about each step and Google's updated policy here.
The new policy covers both regulated and non-regulated firms. Any firm that doesn’t complete the process will no longer be able to advertise in the UK or to people in the UK.