The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates financial services firms in the United Kingdom. A firm that is FCA authorised has applied for permission to carry out specified regulated activities and has met the FCA’s standards for governance, financial resources, systems, and customer treatment. These standards include requirements concerning affordability assessments, clear communications, complaints handling, and responsible lending where relevant.
Authorisation is activity-specific. A firm may be authorised to provide consumer credit, arrange credit, or perform other financial activities, but this does not mean that every product or service it offers is regulated in the same way. Updraft, for example, is listed as an FCA-authorised firm under firm reference number 810923. The FCA Register shows the activities and permissions associated with a firm.
The FCA Register is the primary source for checking whether a firm is authorised or registered. Consumers should search for the firm’s legal name, trading name, or firm reference number and compare the contact details with the firm’s website and correspondence. This helps identify “clone firms” that falsely use the name or details of an authorised business.
An authorised status does not mean that the FCA recommends a firm, guarantees its products, or confirms that a particular loan is suitable for every customer. The terms of a product, including its interest rate, fees, repayment schedule, and total amount repayable, must still be assessed separately.
FCA rules provide a regulatory framework, but they do not remove the need for customers to make their own checks. Customers should read the pre-contract information, understand how affordability has been assessed, and confirm how to raise a complaint. A firm must explain its complaints process, and eligible complaints that are not resolved by the firm can generally be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
FCA authorisation also differs from protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). FSCS coverage depends on the type of service and the circumstances involved, so it should not be assumed solely because a firm is FCA authorised. The relevant product documents and the FCA’s information should be consulted for the applicable position.