PromoCheck
FCA financial-promotion review

Publish nothing
the FCA can
question.

PromoCheck reviews a financial promotion against the FCA rules, cites the exact rule, quotes the precise words that break it, and refuses to guess when it cannot tell. Every review is evidence you can show a regulator.

3 free checks · no card · an assistant, not an approver

promocheck · live reviewInstagram · retail

Source · Growth fund promo

Invest in our Growth Fund and earn guaranteed 12% annual returns, risk-free. Past performance shows we never lose. Get started today.

Analysing against fca-cobs4-v1-2026-07
fca-cobs4-v1-2026-07 · recorded to audit trail
[FCNM] COBS 4.2.1R·[BAL] COBS 4.5.2R·[RISKWARN] COBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A·[GUARANTEE] COBS 4.2.1R·[PASTPERF] COBS 4.6.2R·[COSTS] COBS 4.2 / PRIN·[IDENT] COBS 4.3 / PERG·[TARGET] COBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A·[S21] FSMA 2000 s21·[SOCIAL] FCA FG24/1·[FCNM] COBS 4.2.1R·[BAL] COBS 4.5.2R·[RISKWARN] COBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A·[GUARANTEE] COBS 4.2.1R·[PASTPERF] COBS 4.6.2R·[COSTS] COBS 4.2 / PRIN·[IDENT] COBS 4.3 / PERG·[TARGET] COBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A·[S21] FSMA 2000 s21·[SOCIAL] FCA FG24/1·
100%

of quotes are verbatim, a finding can't cite text that isn't in your promotion

0%

false alarms on compliant promotions in our evaluation (n=100)

10

FCA rules, versioned, COBS 4, FSMA s21, FG24/1

6 yr

tamper-evident, exportable audit trail

Who it’s for

Built for the person who has to sign it off.

PromoCheck is for the compliance officer, MLRO, and s21 approver at an FCA-regulated firm, the accountable person who has to defend a promotion to the regulator, the board, and the PI insurer. If that’s you, this is built for your fear, not your marketer’s deadline.

Our stance

Speed is easy to sell and hard to defend. We build the opposite: every finding grounded in a rule and quoted verbatim, an honest refusal when it can’t tell, a published accuracy number, and a tamper-evident record. Verification is the product, not a faster way to guess.

The exposure

One bad promotion is a supervisory problem, not a typo.

Under FSMA s21 the firm is responsible for every financial promotion it communicates. The FCA has sharpened its focus on misleading claims, buried risk warnings, and standalone social-media compliance (FG24/1). Sign-off is slow, manual, and almost impossible to evidence after the fact.

Withdrawn

Firms are routinely told to amend or pull non-compliant promotions.

No paper trail

Most teams can't show which rules were applied to a given draft, or when.

Standalone

Social posts must comply alone; 'see bio' risk warnings don't count.

How it works

From draft to a review you can stand behind, in one pass.

01

Paste the promotion

Landing copy, an email, an ad, or a social post. Add the audience and channel for a sharper read.

02

It checks every claim against the rule set

Each potential breach is tied to a specific FCA rule and the exact text that triggered it. Nothing is raised it cannot quote.

03

You get a defensible report

Pass, issues with fixes, or an honest refusal when the input is too thin, recorded to your audit trail.

See it work

Three promotions. Three honest answers.

A breach caught with the exact words, a compliant deposit correctly passed, and a vague teaser it refuses to guess on. This is the whole product in one glance.

Crypto fund · retail Issues found

“…earn guaranteed double-digit returns, risk-free.”

[GUARANTEE]Misleading guaranteeCOBS 4.2.1R

“guaranteed double-digit returns, risk-free”

[RISKWARN] No risk warning, omission, nothing to quote

Fix: remove “guaranteed / risk-free”; add a capital-at-risk warning.

Cash saver · retail Pass

“Earn 4.10% AER (variable). Eligible deposits protected up to £85,000 by the FSCS.”

Recognised as an FSCS-protected cash deposit. The AER and FSCS wording are correct, not flagged. A keyword tool would over-flag this; it complies.

The credibility test: it knows which rules apply, and which don’t.

Social teaser · unknown Insufficient grounding

“Big things coming. Don’t miss out. Link in bio.”

INSUFFICIENT_GROUNDING, too little to assess. It would need: the product type, the audience, and whether a risk warning appears in the creative.

It refuses instead of guessing. A confident wrong answer is the failure mode designed out.

What lands on your desk

Not a verdict in a chat window. A record you can file.

Every review produces two artefacts: an evidence pack a reviewer signs off, and a tamper-evident entry in an audit trail you can hand to the FCA.

Evidence packPDF · print-ready

Growth Fund promotion

Issues found · 3
Firm
Meridian Capital Ltd
Reviewer
a.shah@…
Timestamp
2026-07-21 14:32Z
Rule set
fca-cobs4-v1-2026-07
[GUARANTEE]Misleading guarantee of returnCOBS 4.2.1R

guaranteed 12% annual returns, risk-free

[PASTPERF]Past performance misusedCOBS 4.6.2R

Past performance shows we never lose

[RISKWARN] No capital-at-risk warning, omission, nothing to quote

sealed & recorded to audit trail · hash 9f3c…a71b

Audit trail Chain verified

Growth Fund promotion

14:32
issues · 3a71b←9f3c

ISA landing page

11:07
pass9f3c←5e08

Instagram teaser

09:54
insufficient5e08←2b90

Pension email

Tue
pass2b90←0000

Each entry is hash-chained to the one before and HMAC-signed. Alter any record and verification fails, you can prove the trail is intact.

Why it holds up

The value isn’t “AI reads your promotion.” It’s that every finding is grounded and defensible.

Anything can produce a plausible opinion. A compliance tool has to produce evidence, admit what it doesn’t know, and leave a record. Enforced in code, not marketing copy.

Grounded

a real rule id and a verbatim quote behind every finding

Honest

it returns INSUFFICIENT_GROUNDING instead of a confident guess

Recorded

hash-chained, signed and versioned to your audit trail

Why not just a chatbot

The difference is what happens when it’s wrong.

A general model guesses confidently and leaves no trace. PromoCheck is built to fail safe and leave a record.

PromoCheckGeneric AI checkerKeyword scannerManual sign-off
Cites the exact FCA rule
Quotes verbatim, enforced in code
Refuses when it can't tell
Won't over-flag compliant copy
Tamper-evident audit trail
Minutes, not days

● full   ◐ partial / inconsistent   ○ not really. Manual sign-off is thorough but slow and hard to evidence; keyword tools are fast but over-flag and can’t cite a rule.

Everything in the box

Not a wrapper around a chatbot. A defensible compliance system.

01

Grounded citations

Every finding names a real rule and quotes verbatim text, enforced in code.

02

Defensible refusal

Returns INSUFFICIENT_GROUNDING rather than a confident guess on thin input.

03

Exportable evidence pack

A print/PDF record: firm, timestamp, rule-set version, cited findings.

04

Tamper-evident audit

Records are hash-chained and signed; any later change fails verification.

05

Two-model consensus

High-assurance mode: two independent models must agree, or it escalates.

06

Full-trail export

Download the whole audit trail as CSV or JSON, with integrity hashes.

07

Data-residency options

Run on a UK self-hosted model so promotions never leave your estate.

08

Versioned rule set

Every review records which rules were applied, and when.

Rule coverage

Grounded in the FCA financial-promotion regime.

Every check maps to a specific Handbook reference or FSMA provision, never a vague “this looks non-compliant.”

10rules,
versioned

fca-cobs4-v1-2026-07

Rule / what it checksReference
  • FCNMFair, clear and not misleadingCOBS 4.2.1R
  • BALBalanced presentation of benefits and risksCOBS 4.5.2R
  • RISKWARNCapital-at-risk / prescribed risk warningCOBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A
  • GUARANTEENo misleading guarantees of returnCOBS 4.2.1R
  • PASTPERFPast performance not presented as a guide to the futureCOBS 4.6.2R
  • COSTSCosts, charges and material terms disclosedCOBS 4.2 / PRIN
  • IDENTClear identification as a financial promotionCOBS 4.3 / PERG
  • TARGETAppropriate for the target audienceCOBS 4.2 / COBS 4.12A
  • S21Section 21 approval / authorised communicatorFSMA 2000 s21
  • SOCIALStandalone compliance (social/short-form)FCA FG24/1

Data & security

Built to survive a compliance review of the tool itself.

Private to your firm

Sign in with a work email and your checks and audit trail are scoped to your firm. No one outside it can read your promotions.

Data minimisation

The audit trail keeps a short preview and a cryptographic hash of each promotion, plus the finding, never more than a review needs.

You stay responsible

PromoCheck does not approve or certify. It surfaces flags for a qualified person. The regulatory duty stays with your firm.

Transparent provider

The model provider and processing region are stated plainly, so your DPIA and vendor review have a straight answer.

Pricing

Start free. Move up when it earns it.

Trial

Free3 checks / month
  • Full grounded report
  • Rule citations + verbatim evidence
  • Refusal on thin input
Start free
Most teams start here

Pro

£149per firm / month
  • Unlimited checks
  • Persistent audit-trail export
  • Per-firm workspace
  • Priority rule-set updates
  • £1,490/year if billed annually
Book a demo

Firm

From £499per month
  • Everything in Pro
  • Seats, SSO and role controls
  • Stated data-residency option
  • Custom rule packs by product line
Book a demo

Questions compliance teams ask

Straight answers.

Does this approve my promotion?+

No. PromoCheck is an assistant, not an approver. It flags likely breaches with evidence for a qualified person to review. Under FCA rules, responsibility stays with your firm.

How do I know it isn't making findings up?+

Every finding must cite a real rule and quote text that appears verbatim in your promotion. Findings that fail either test are dropped in code before you see them, and an issues verdict with no valid findings is corrected to a pass.

What happens when it can't tell?+

It returns INSUFFICIENT_GROUNDING and lists what it would need to assess properly, rather than guessing. A confident wrong answer is the failure mode it's designed to avoid.

Where does my data go?+

Your checks are private to your firm. The model provider and processing region are stated so your vendor and DPIA reviews have a clear answer. See the Privacy & data page.

Can I show the FCA what was checked?+

Yes. Each review is recorded with the rule-set version applied and the outcome, so you can evidence which rules were used on a given draft and when.

Start a pilot

Run it on your own promotions, free.

Send us a handful of your recent promotions, we review them and share the evidence packs. No commitment, and you keep the records.