Websites, SEO & systems for FCA-regulated firms

Less than most firms fear, and more than most agencies notice. The website is a financial promotion as much as a leaflet is, so the same rules apply to every page that describes a product, a rate or an outcome. The design job is to make those rules look like clarity rather than small print. Our guide to FCA rules for a firm's website sets out the copy compliance most often strikes out, and what to write instead.

• Every claim has to be fair, clear and not misleading. That is the core rule for financial promotions, COBS 4.2.1R in the FCA Handbook, and it reaches the hero line as much as the terms page. A headline that cannot be evidenced does not get written.
• The risk sits next to the benefit. Where a product puts capital at risk, the Handbook's guidance is that the promotion makes that clear (COBS 4.2.4G). The warning is designed into the layout beside the claim, not set in grey under the footer.
• The Consumer Duty is about understanding. Its four outcomes cover products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support. On a website, understanding is the one that changes the copy: plain words, the cost shown, and the next step stated.
• Status is easy to check. Your status statement and firm reference number go in the footer of every page, linked to your entry on the FCA Register, so a cautious buyer can confirm who you are in seconds.
• Sign-off is part of the build. Copy goes to your compliance officer, or your network, before launch. We keep a dated record of what was approved and what went live, so a question six months later has an answer.

The website is usually the front of a longer process: enquiry, fact-find, documents, checks, recommendation, completion. Most of the cost in that process is chasing and retyping, and most of the risk is a record that cannot be found when someone asks for it.

What usually gets built

• Enquiries into the CRM or back office you already use, such as Intelliflo, Salesforce or HubSpot, arriving with their source so you can see which channel brings business. From £650 as a single integration.
• A client portal for the fact-find and documents, replacing email attachments with secure uploads, reminders that chase themselves, and a status the client can see. From £4,500 as a bespoke application.
• E-signature and identity checks joined to the provider you already use, so the file shows who signed what, and when.
• Reporting that agrees with itself, pipeline, cases at each stage and completions on one screen instead of three spreadsheets. See data and reporting.

Data stays on your own accounts, not ours, and every build is documented and handed over. Security, data protection and continuity answers for your due diligence are on the capabilities page.