Google announced it has expanded its Financial Services Verification process to 24 new European Economic Area (EEA) markets. The verification requirements kicks in today, July 23, 2026. Google said they are doing this to "help stop scams before they start." Google has done this in the US for a while now.
The specific locations impacted by this include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.
Google said this new requirement for financial advertisers "adds a layer of protection to ensure that these advertisers are authorized by their national regulators. Globally, this framework has already helped us block or remove 327.8 million unauthorized financial services ads. Bringing the verification approach to more European countries helps protect people online, while increasing people’s trust in ads and the businesses behind them."
Google will notify affected advertisers directly through in-account notifications (for example, a message like "Ad performance may be impacted by financial services verification policy.") indicating that they need to complete the verification process.
To complete this process, advertisers will need to (1) obtain verification through our external compliance partner, G2, and then (2) apply for financial services verification with Google as either “First Party” or “Authorized Advertisers” using the unique verification code they receive from G2. As part of G2’s verification process, G2 will ask advertisers about the type of financial services they provide, whether they are licensed to provide those services, and for their registration number, among other things. Advertisers must demonstrate that the relevant financial services regulator directly authorizes them to undertake financial services activities or that they are exempt from that requirement.
For more details, see here.
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