Google announced it will tighten its policies for Financial Services advertisers targeting searchers and consumers in the UK. The policy will be fully published on August 30, 2021 and then seven days later it will be enforced, on September 6, 2021.
Google is doing this to fight financial fraud in the UK.
This policy will require those who want to show financial ads in the UK through Google to be verified by Google. As part of the verification process, advertisers must demonstrate that they are authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority or qualify for one of the exemptions described in the UK Financial Services verification page, Google said. That link provides details about the verification process.
Ads related to the following categories will not be considered financial services for the purposes of this policy, but are still required to comply with all other Google Ads policies:
- Products in scope of our Debt services policy
- Products in scope of our Complex speculative financial products policy: contracts for difference, rolling spot forex, financial spread betting. Ads for this category will be able to target UK users seeking financial services as long as they meet the requirements of our Complex speculative financial products policy and complete verification, if requested by Google.
- Gambling (see our Gambling and Games policy)
- Products in scope of our Cryptocurrencies, Credit repair, and Binary options policies
Google began a process of verifying advertisers globally in January, but this is a step up.
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