MCOB 3.9 21Confirmation of compliance: financial promotions of qualifying credit, home reversion plans or regulated sale and rent back agreements2

'Appropriate1 expertise' will vary depending on the complexity of the financial promotion1 and the qualifying credit,2 home reversion plan or regulated sale and rent back agreement21 to which it relates. The individuals engaged by a firm to confirm the compliance of its financial promotions1 with this chapter may themselves have different levels of expertise and therefore a different level of authority for confirmation depending on the type of promotion and the qualifying credit, home reversion plan or regulated sale and rent back agreement21 involved.

A firm may arrange for a third party with appropriate expertise to carry out the confirmation exercise on the firm's behalf, but the responsibility for the financial promotion1 remains with the firm.

MCOB 3.9.3 R is of particular importance to a financial promotion1, such as a product brochure, that a firm uses over a period of time. It has little application to a financial promotion1 which is of its nature ephemeral, for example a mobile phone text message. Further, a financial promotion1 which clearly speaks as at a particular date will not cease to comply with the rules in this chapter merely because the passage of time has rendered it out-of-date. This does not mean, however, that a financial promotion1 can include information (such as price information) which is likely to become outdated during the currency of the financial promotion1 without the firm having regard to the need for any financial promotion1 to be clear, fair and not misleading. See further MCOB 3.6.5 G (2).

For compliance with MCOB 3.9.3 R, the FSA will expect a firm to monitor its relevant financial promotions1 as part of the firm's routine compliance monitoring procedures. A firm may find it helpful to designate a relevant financial promotion1 with a 'review date', a date at which the financial promotion1 should be checked once more against the rules in this chapter. If it is found no longer to meet these requirements it should be withdrawn as soon as is reasonably practicable.

If at any time a firm becomes aware that customers may have been misled by a financial promotion1 it should consider whether customers who have responded to the financial promotion1 should be contacted with a view to explaining the position and offering any appropriate form of redress to those who have suffered financial loss.