Check the FCA Register Before You Invest a Penny

A few minutes on the Financial Services Register tells you whether an investment firm is authorised and what it is actually allowed to do. Here is how to run the checks in order.

Summary

• Almost every financial service activity in the UK has to be authorised or registered with the FCA, so dealing with an unauthorised firm is a serious warning sign.
• Authorisation alone is not enough: a firm also needs permission for the specific service it is offering you.
• Clone firms impersonate genuine authorised firms; of the FCA’s 1,000-plus scam warnings in 2020, 40% were clones or impersonations of real brands.
• The FSCS can protect money held by UK branches of authorised banks, building societies and credit unions, but not e-money or payment services firms.
• If a firm is not on the register, do not send money; report suspected fraud to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

Before any money moves, one check does more work than any other: confirming that the firm is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the body that regulates most financial services firms in the UK. The FCA Register and its Firm Checker are free to use and take minutes. This walkthrough covers what to look for, in the order that catches problems earliest.

Why Authorisation Matters for Your Money

Almost every financial service activity in the UK has to be authorised or registered with the FCA. Authorised firms must meet certain standards and hold permission for the products and services they sell. Regulated activities include advising on and managing investments, creating and running collective investment schemes, and computer or web-based investment transactions. Carrying out regulated activities without authorisation is an offence that can lead to fines and imprisonment.

There is a distinction worth understanding before you search. A firm that is merely registered has met certain requirements, but registration does not let it carry out the regulated activities that require authorisation. Deal with a registered-but-not-authorised firm and you would probably have no recourse to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) should it collapse, and no route to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you wanted to complain.

Authorisation does not remove all risk. The FCA’s own framing is that an authorised firm holding the right permissions lowers the chance of harm considerably, without removing it entirely.

Step 1: Find the Firm on the Register

The Financial Services Register is a searchable public list of every firm, individual and other body that the FCA or the Prudential Regulation Authority approves now or has approved in the past. The FCA also runs a simpler Firm Checker aimed at consumers, which shows whether a firm holds authorisation and the specific permission needed for whatever it is offering you.

Work through it like this:

1. Take the firm’s exact name from its website, its paperwork, or the person contacting you.
2. Search the Firm Checker for a quick answer, or the full Register for the complete record.
3. Compare any results carefully. Firms with similar names exist, and scammers rely on you not noticing a changed letter or word.
4. Open the firm’s record and check its current status, not just that it appears at all.

Firms that were once authorised stay on the Register, so an old search result is not proof of a current permission. The Register can also show whether a firm held authorisation at the point you paid money or booked a service, which matters if you are reviewing something you bought some time ago.

Step 2: Read the Permissions, Not Just the Name

Authorisation is specific. A firm can be authorised for one activity and lack permission for another, so check that the record covers the exact service you are being sold. The full Register also shows details the Firm Checker does not, including a firm’s right to approve financial promotions and its ability to handle client money.

The Firm Checker has limits the FCA is upfront about. It cannot guarantee that FSCS or Financial Ombudsman cover will be available should a problem arise, so you should do your own checks with each scheme about the types of claims and complaints they handle. Some information on the tool comes from firms themselves, which means the FCA cannot vouch for its accuracy or completeness.

Step 3: Check Individuals and Appointed Representatives

If a named person is handling your money, you can look them up on the Register. Not every individual at a firm needs approval, so an absence is not automatically a red flag, but where someone does appear, check their current role and any disciplinary or regulatory history attached to their entry. FCA employees are not listed on the Register or the Firm Checker.

Some firms operate as appointed representatives (ARs), which means they carry out activities on behalf of another firm, called their principal. This is where many checks stop too early. If an AR strays past the activities its principal has agreed to, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSCS may not be available to you. The Register lists contact details for both, and you can ask the principal directly to confirm what the AR is permitted to do and how you would be protected.

The FCA’s guidance here is simple: rely on an authorised firm rather than an approved individual, because that gives you the stronger chance of protection when things go wrong.

Clone Firms: The Trick That Catches Savers Out

A clone firm is an unauthorised firm falsely claiming to come from a genuine, authorised one. It is common. Scam warnings from the FCA topped 1,000 in 2020, and 40% of them concerned firms pretending to be, or imitating, established financial services brands. Action Fraud put losses from brand cloning scams in 2020 at over £78 million, which works out at £45,242 per victim on average.

The Register lists the different details unauthorised firms give out when they pose as real ones. Compare the phone number, email address, website and address in the firm’s record with the details you have been given. If anything differs, contact the firm using only the details on the Register, never the ones from the email, advert or call you received.

Brand cloning also happens away from the Register. Criminals copy well-known financial brands into fake adverts, documents and price-comparison websites, and often use the FSCS logo without permission to make non-existent products look protected.

The Warning List and Name Variations to Watch

Alongside the Register, the FCA publishes a Warning List covering firms reported to it for offering regulated products or services with no authorisation, or for deliberately running scams. Searching it takes seconds and covers firms that have already been flagged.

The names on these lists rarely announce themselves. Watch for slight misspellings of familiar firms, extra words bolted on, and web addresses that do not quite match the brand. If an unexpected contact shares a name with a well-known provider, assume nothing and verify every detail yourself.

What Authorised Firms Must Offer That Others Do Not

Authorisation opens the door to the two main safety nets, though neither is automatic for every product. The FSCS protects money held by UK branches of authorised banks, building societies and credit unions, with joint accounts eligible for protection up to £120,000 per eligible person. It cannot protect e-money or payment services firms. Our guide to FSCS protection explains how the cover works in detail, and we also look at what happens when an investment firm fails.

One gap to know about: cryptoassets are not regulated by the FCA, so they carry no FSCS protection at all.

What to Do if a Firm Is Not on the Register

The FCA’s advice is blunt: if a firm is not authorised, or does not have permission for the services you are looking for, avoid dealing with it.

• Stop before you pay. No return offered is worth the risk of an unauthorised firm.
• Search the Warning List to see whether the firm has already been flagged.
• If you suspect fraud, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
• If money has already left your account, contact your bank immediately. Our guide to authorised push payment scams covers the warning signs and your right to a refund.

For free, impartial help understanding a financial product, the FCA points consumers to MoneyHelper, which is backed by the Government.

Next steps

• Authorised push payment scams: what to do if you have already sent money to a fraudster, and when banks must refund you.
• FSCS protection explained: how the compensation scheme covers your savings, and which firms it does not cover.
• What happens when your investment firm fails: the practical aftermath of a firm collapse, and where the safety nets kick in.

Questions readers ask