How To Check If A Financial Adviser Is FCA Authorised

The FCA is the UK's financial services regulator. Any firm or individual giving regulated financial advice in the UK must be authorised by the FCA (or be an Appointed Representative of an authorised firm). Authorisation means the FCA has assessed the firm against minimum standards for competence, conduct and financial soundness, and the firm must continue to meet those standards or risk losing its authorisation.

Using an unregulated adviser carries serious risks:

• You have no access to the FSCS if the firm fails or gives negligent advice — compensation claims only apply to regulated advice
• You cannot complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service — the FOS only handles complaints about regulated firms
• You have limited legal recourse if something goes wrong — civil litigation is expensive and uncertain
• Unregulated investment schemes are a common vehicle for financial fraud

The FCA publishes a Warning List of known scams and unauthorised firms at fca.org.uk/scamsmart. Checking both the Register and the Warning List before engaging any adviser is the most basic form of consumer protection available.

The FCA Financial Services Register is available at register.fca.org.uk. It is free, requires no login and is updated in real time as the FCA makes changes to firms' authorisation status.

The steps to check a firm are straightforward:

Once you have found a firm on the Register, there are several things worth checking beyond the basic Authorised status:

A firm can be properly authorised while the person you are dealing with has no connection to it. The Register lets you search for individuals as well as firms. Search the adviser's full name and check that their record links them to the firm they say they work for, and that their role matches what they have told you. If the individual cannot be found, or is linked to a different firm, contact the firm directly using the details shown on the Register rather than those the adviser gave you.

Advisers who give retail investment advice must hold an appropriate qualification set by the FCA and a current Statement of Professional Standing (SPS). The SPS is issued by an FCA-accredited body and confirms that the adviser has kept their knowledge up to date and meets standards of ethical behaviour. It must be renewed at least every 12 months, and investment advisers must complete at least 35 hours of continuing professional development each year, 21 of them structured. Ask to see the adviser's current SPS and which body issued it — a legitimate adviser will provide it without hesitation. Higher designations, such as chartered status, go beyond the minimum and may be relevant where your affairs are complex. MoneyHelper's guide to choosing a financial adviser suggests asking every adviser what qualifications they hold and what they mean.

Authorisation tells you a firm is permitted to advise today; it does not tell you how it has behaved. Check the firm's Register entry for any disciplinary history, and search the Financial Ombudsman Service's published decisions for the firm's name. A single upheld complaint at a large firm is not unusual, but a pattern involving the same type of advice is worth asking about. Only regulated advice gives you access to the Ombudsman and, if a firm fails, to the compensation scheme — our article on FSCS protection explains how that cover works.

Private banks and wealth managers often carry out several regulated activities at once — taking deposits, managing portfolios and giving advice — and each requires the right permission. A bank that takes deposits is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the PRA and the FCA, and the Register shows this. Check that the permissions listed cover the service you are being offered, such as advising on investments or managing investments on a discretionary basis, and that the advice will come from the UK-regulated entity itself rather than an overseas affiliate. Where money or investments will be held overseas, UK protections may not apply.

The Register does not tell you whether an adviser is independent. Firms must tell you before giving advice whether it is independent — considering products from across the market — or restricted to certain providers or products. Our article on independent vs restricted advisers explains the difference, our list of questions to ask a financial adviser covers how to raise it, and our guide to the cost of financial advice explains how charges are usually structured.

The FCA ScamSmart campaign highlights several common patterns associated with financial fraud and unregulated advice. Warning signs include:

• Unsolicited contact — you were cold-called, emailed or messaged out of the blue
• Promises of unusually high returns with low or no risk
• Pressure to act quickly or a limited-time offer
• Requests for payment in cryptocurrency or bank transfer to a third party
• Difficulty finding the firm on the FCA Register
• Contact details that differ from those on the Register
• The adviser discourages you from checking their authorisation status

If you are unsure whether a contact is legitimate, the FCA recommends calling their consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768 before proceeding.