UK Financial Services Verification (UK FCA) for Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising requires advertisers who show financial services ads in the UK to complete their UK Financial services verification. This requirement involves all financial services and includes all ad formats and extensions. As part of the verification process, advertisers must either demonstrate their registration with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (UK FCA) or qualify for an exemption. It is important to keep in mind that advertisers will also be required to complete “Advertiser Identity Verification” (AIV). Upon completing your UK Financial services verification, you'll receive an email regarding the Advertiser identity verification process. You can learn more about AIV by visiting the following links below: 

• How to Verify my Microsoft Advertising Account? (Advertiser Identity Verification)
• Advertiser identity verification

Before you start the UK Financial services verification process, please review the following terms and definitions that can help you select the best option suitable for you:

• Authorized financial services advertisers registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority: Advertisers that the UK FCA authorizes to provide financial services or undertake related activities.
• Exempt non-financial services advertiser: Advertisers that don't promote financial services but have reason to target people seeking financial services. Examples include search engines, eCommerce platforms, and aggregators.
• Exempt government entities: UK government institutions, regulators, or authorities operating under the gov.uk domain or entities approved by any of the above for the purpose of this policy.

Please note that this will not impact your financial services ads that serve outside of the UK nor your non-financial services ads that serve in the UK. Until you're verified, any financial services ads targeting UK customers won't be served.

Verification Process

Advertisers who need to complete UK Financial services verification, will notice a new page/tab in their account settings called Verifications. This page is only for UK Financial services verification.

You can initiate the UK Financial services verification through the Verifications page/tab by clicking on Tools > Preferences. Please make sure that you have the following information ready:

• Business details (name, address, and email address)
• The 6-or 7-digit UK FCA registration number (FRN), if applicable
• Domain details used to showcase financial services-related advertising. This includes domains registered with the UK FCA and domains and websites used for advertising on Microsoft Advertising that aren't in the UK FCA registry

These are the initial verification process steps:

1. From the top menu, select Tools > Preferences. If you have multiple accounts, choose one from the account selector in the top menu.
2. On the Verifications page, navigate to the UK Financial services verification row.
3. Hover over the Verification status.
4. Select Become a verified advertiser.
5. Choose the appropriate business type from the 3 choices provided, before selecting Next.
   • Authorized financial services advertiser registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
   • Exempt non-financial services advertiser
   • Exempt government entity

Those aiming to verify as an Authorized financial services advertiser should follow the steps below:

1. Advertisers should choose the first option to verify as an Authorized financial services advertiser and continue by clicking on Next.

2. In the Business details  section, enter the Legal business name and business address information.

3. Enter all other required information based on the selected business type. Note:

• If you are a UK FCA approved financial services advertiser, you should provide your business email address, FCA provided Firm Registration Number, and the list of domains that you'll use for advertising.
• If you are a non-financial services advertiser, you should provide your business email address, a justification of why you would be targeting customers looking for financial services, and the list of domains you would be using for advertising.
• If you are a government entity, you should provide a valid email address that ends with gov.uk. This should be validated with the verification code provided in the previous email address. You should also provide a justification of why you would be targeting customers looking for financial services, and the list of domains you would be using for advertising.
  4. Select the checkbox confirming that you will comply with the policies and terms at the bottom of the Business details section.

   5. Proceed to the **Summary** to check the information and make any necessary changes.  

1. Submit the details for verification. You can expect a response from us within 3-5 business days.

Those who want to verify as Non-financial services advertisers, should complete the steps below:

1. Non-financial services advertisers should choose the second option to verify as an exempt non-financial services advertiser, then select Next.

2. Input business location details.

3. Enter email, business description and justification for exemption. After reviewing and affirming the information at the bottom of the page, select Next.

4. Lastly, advertisers will need to review the information they provided, then submit the application for review. You can expect a response from us within 3-4 business days.

Those who want to verify as an exempt government entity should follow the steps below:

1. In case you have received an email saying that you’ll be required to complete the UK Financial Services verification or you noticed  in your account an action to complete UK FCA verification but you actually do not serve financial services ads in the UK, please verify as a ‘Non-financial services advertiser’ to avoid any interruption in service. These types of advertisers should choose the third option to verify as an exempt government entity, then select Next.

2. Input business location details.

3. Enter an email address with the @gov.uk domain which must be validated with a code that is sent to the email. This code must be entered within the account. Advertisers must also provide a business description, justification for exemption, business website. After reviewing and affirming the information at the bottom of the page, select Next.

4. Lastly, advertisers will need to review the information they provided, then submit the application for review. You can expect a response from us within 3-4 business days.

Verification Status

After completing UK Financial services verification, your account will fall under one of the following statuses, which you can see on the Verifications page:

• Verified advertiser: All of your business details and domains are approved. You may now run financial services-related ads to customers in the UK using approved domains.
• Partially verified: Some of your domains are approved, while others failed verification or are pending verification. You may serve financial services-related ads to people in the UK using the list of approved domains; however, ads using rejected or pending domains will not be served.
• Verification failed: None of your entered domains have passed the verification requirements. You won't be able to serve any financial services-related ads to people in the UK on any of your domains. You can, however, update the details and re-apply for verification at any time.
• Verification pending: All of your details are currently undergoing verification. You can't serve any financial services-related ads to people in the UK on any of your domains until they are verified.

To see the list of approved, pending, and rejected domains, hover over the Domains link in the Verifications page and select Manage verification details.

• If you're applying for verification as an authorized financial services advertiser, your details should match those within the UK FCA register. Any discrepancies may lead to a verification failure.
• Verification can take 3-4 business days.
• Once approved, you can add or delete domains through the Verifications page. However, each update needs to undergo its own verification process.
• Verification is conditional on you providing valid details and documentation.
• Providing faulty or false information may lead to account suspension and revoked verification status.
• We may revoke your verification or take action on your account based on ongoing settlements, adverse regularity warnings, rulings about your business practices, and/or direct complaints from businesses.
• Microsoft Advertising may update the verification requirements at any time.

As it was mentioned above, please note that the review and approval of your UK Financial services verification submission may take 3-4 business days to complete. In some cases, you may be asked to submit supporting documentation. This is to ensure a thorough review is completed. For any inquiries please contact support.