Financial Promotions

A licensed firm cannot make a financial promotion, ie an inducement to the client to take up a regulated activity unless it is either approved by an FCA authorised firm or the promotion is permitted under one of the many exemptions in the Financial Promotions Order.

For a licensed firm to provide a proper service to a client it may be necessary to call the client without specific permission to discuss an aspect of the exempt regulated activities that the firm can provide to the client.

As the firm is taking the initiative, this is an ‘unsolicited’ promotion and as it is verbal, it is a ‘real time’ communication. The Financial Promotions Order provides a specific exemption to allow licensed firms to make unsolicited real-time promotions to their clients, provided they have previously been engaged to provide professional services to that client and either the services being discussed are incidental to other professional service or the client request that the firm contacts him in this way.