Regulated and unregulated: what the FCA does and does not cover

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates financial services in the UK, and most of the products an ordinary household uses sit inside its rules: bank accounts, credit cards, most mortgages, pensions, insurance and investments¹. But the FCA's remit, often called its "perimeter", has edges, and some things that look like financial products sit outside it entirely. Cryptoassets, buy-to-let mortgages, commercial lending, individual voluntary arrangements and, until recently, buy now pay later have all been outside FCA regulation at one time or another.

Why does the edge matter? Because what sits outside the perimeter usually loses two protections: cover from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if the firm fails, and the right to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FSCS states plainly that its protection applies only where an authorised firm's activity is regulated by the FCA or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)³. This page sets out what is inside, what is outside, and how to check a firm before you rely on protections that may not be there.

What the FCA is and what it regulates

The FCA is the conduct regulator for financial services firms in the UK. Its responsibilities include ensuring fair practice in consumer credit, and it regulates the firms that provide financial advice about pensions and Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs)¹⁰. It shares the regulatory landscape with other bodies: the Prudential Regulation Authority supervises the safety of banks and insurers, the Payment Systems Regulator oversees payment systems, and The Pensions Regulator supervises workplace pension schemes¹⁰. A fuller map of who does what is on the who regulates what page.

The FCA's rulebook is not fixed by Parliament in detail. A House of Commons Library briefing records the position that the FCA, not Parliament, should be responsible for setting the rules governing the sector, as far as is practical¹³. That means the perimeter and the rules inside it change over time, through consultations and policy statements, and a product that was unregulated a few years ago can become regulated, as buy now pay later has.

One point worth holding onto: the FCA is a regulator, not a compensation body, and neither it nor the PRA guarantees that nothing will go wrong. A Bank of England review notes that the PRA is not a zero-failure regulator, and the same logic applies to the FCA's side of the street. Firms can and do fail; the protections that matter then are FSCS and the ombudsman, and both depend on the firm and the activity being regulated.

Products the FCA covers: credit, mortgages, pensions, payments and investments

The FCA states that firms must be authorised by it to provide a wide range of products and services, including:

• bank accounts, both current and savings accounts
• lending, including credit cards, buy now pay later, hire and credit broking
• debt-related services, including debt advice and debt collection
• crowdfunding platforms and claims management services
• insurance, life or general, and funeral plans
• investments such as shares, funds and derivatives
• pensions, workplace and personal
• home finance: residential mortgages, equity release and home purchase plans, including Sharia-compliant mortgages
• payments and e-money services, such as online wallets and money transfers¹

On the credit side, the Regulated Activities Order provides for 10 credit-related regulated activities, including entering into a regulated credit agreement as lender¹². The FCA's past reviews have covered overdrafts, store cards and catalogue credit, home-collected loans and rent-to-own services, and its work continues on motor finance, guarantor loans and the credit information market¹⁴.

Mortgages have a cut-off date. The FCA regulates most mortgages taken out on or after 31 October 2004, and it also deals with problems with existing mortgages⁴. Mortgages taken out before that date sit under different rules, covered on the pre-2004 mortgages page. Two further edges catch people out. First, FCA mortgage regulation does not apply to secured loans regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974: these are regulated, but under consumer credit rules rather than the mortgage rulebook¹⁵. Second, some government schemes sit outside regulation altogether; the Help to Buy Wales equity mortgage scheme, for example, is not regulated by the FCA¹⁶.

Pensions are split between regulators. The FCA regulates personal pensions and the firms giving pension advice, while The Pensions Regulator oversees workplace schemes and is the contact for concerns about a workplace pension¹⁰. Payments and e-money firms are FCA-regulated, with rules requiring them to safeguard customers' money separately from their own funds.

Buy now pay later is now regulated

Buy now pay later (BNPL) is the clearest recent example of the perimeter moving. For years, an exemption in law meant these payment plans were not treated in the same way as traditional credit agreements¹⁷. The Woolard Review, which the FCA published in 2021, described unregulated BNPL agreements as relying on the exemption in Article 60F(2) of the Regulated Activities Order¹⁷.

That changed in 2026. Legislation made in 2025 provides that certain buy now pay later agreements, previously exempt, become regulated credit agreements, and from 15 July 2026 interest-free BNPL products are subject to a new regulatory regime overseen by the FCA⁵. In practice this brings BNPL firms inside the FCA's consumer credit rules, with the protections that follow: the ombudsman route for complaints, and the consumer credit framework for the agreements themselves. The detail of the new rules is on the deferred payment credit page.

The FCA has also acted on a specific unfairness in the market: it banned interest charges on credit that customers had already paid off during interest-free loan periods¹⁴. If you have an older BNPL plan taken out before regulation, or you miss payments, the BNPL missed payments and BNPL complaints pages cover where you stand.

What the FCA does not regulate

The FCA lists products and services it does not regulate or supervise, where firms do not need its authorisation. They include:

• unregulated buy now pay later (before the 2026 change)
• advice on estate planning, wills and probate
• individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs)
• debt collection of unpaid council tax, water, gas or electricity bills
• buy-to-let mortgages
• commercial mortgages and commercial lending
• timeshares¹

Some of these are regulated by someone else, or by different law. IVAs and Protected Trust Deeds, the Scottish equivalent, are insolvency arrangements: the FCA's own Woolard Review records that neither IVAs nor PTDs are regulated by the FCA¹⁷. Debt collection of household bill arrears is not FCA-regulated, though debt collection of credit debts is. Buy-to-let mortgages are not regulated as mortgages, because the rules treat them as business lending rather than a consumer's home finance.

A further subtlety: some activities around financial marketing are not themselves regulated activities. A Treasury Committee report notes that the approval of financial promotions is not itself a regulated activity¹⁹, which is one reason unregulated products can still be advertised to you. The rules that do apply to financial adverts are covered on the financial promotions page.

Unregulated investments: no FSCS protection and no ombudsman route

Investments are where the perimeter's edges cost people the most money. An unregulated collective investment scheme (UCIS) is not regulated by the FCA, though the FCA does regulate financial advice about UCIS⁸. That distinction matters: if you were badly advised into a UCIS by a regulated adviser, you may have a complaint against the adviser, but the scheme itself carries no FSCS protection and no direct ombudsman route.

The FCA's own prescribed risk warnings spell out the consequence. For speculative illiquid securities, the required wording states:

For qualifying cryptoassets, the wording is equally direct: the FSCS does not protect this type of investment because it is not a "specified investment" under the UK regulatory regime⁶. The FSCS says the same in its own scam guidance: cryptoassets are virtual currencies and not FCA regulated, which means they are not FSCS protected⁷.

The FSCS's eligibility rules exclude other categories too. Contracts of reinsurance, credit insurance and marine insurance claims are not eligible for FSCS protection²⁰. Money a debtor pays under an individual voluntary arrangement arranged by insolvency practitioners, which are not regulated by the FCA, is not protected²¹. And the scheme rules exclude certain claimants, not just certain products: for protected non-investment insurance distribution claims, bodies corporate, partnerships and associations which are not small businesses are excluded²².

The practical test the FSCS sets is a two-step one: check the provider is authorised by the FCA, then check that the particular activity it is carrying out for you is regulated by the PRA or the FCA³. Both steps must pass. A firm can be authorised for one thing and doing another, and only the regulated activity carries protection. The comparison of what protection each type of investment carries is on the regulated versus unregulated investments page.

Claims management firms and other gaps in the chain

Claims management companies are regulated by the FCA, but that does not make the FCA a compensation route. The FCA cannot pay compensation or order a claims management company to compensate you, even if you have received poor service²⁵. Poor conduct it can act on includes breaking the conduct rules for claims companies, unsolicited calls or texts, and not being registered on the financial services register²⁵. If you are unhappy with a claims company's conduct, you complain to the FCA; if you want your money back, you complain to the firm and then the ombudsman.

Gaps also appear where a chain of firms includes unregulated links. Multiple occupancy buildings insurance is an example the Financial Ombudsman Service highlights: these policies may involve insurers, brokers, property managers and others whose firms may not be regulated by the FCA, meaning the ombudsman cannot investigate the part they played²⁶. A leaseholder with a complaint may find the regulated firm in the chain can be examined, but the unregulated one cannot.

Solicitors are another example. Legal services are not FCA-regulated, so a solicitor handling a claim or an estate is outside the FCA's perimeter even though the money involved is financial. Where a claim involves a regulated claims management firm working with an unregulated solicitor, the FCA's reach covers only the regulated firm.

The FCA does not handle individual complaints

A point that confuses many people: the FCA does not resolve individual disputes. Its own guidance states that a regulator cannot consider complaints about the firms it regulates²⁷. The FCA supervises firms, sets rules and takes enforcement action, but the body that decides individual complaints is the Financial Ombudsman Service, which follows rules set by the FCA²⁸.

Other regulators take the same line. The Payment Systems Regulator does not handle queries or complaints from consumers about individual payments²⁹. The Information Commissioner's Office does not respond to complaints individually³⁰. The Competition and Markets Authority cannot step in or advise on individual complaints³¹. Each has a role in the system, but none of them is a route for your own dispute.

Two developments are worth knowing about. The government has consulted on giving the FCA a power to pause complaint handling where complaints have reached the ombudsman, in circumstances where immediate pausing is judged to be in the interests of affected consumers and firms³². And the ombudsman itself gained powers from 1 October 2026 to dismiss complaints that are better resolved elsewhere, or that involve no financial loss, material distress or inconvenience. If you are unhappy with the FCA itself, there is a separate complaints scheme, covered on the complaining about the FCA page.

Checking a firm on the FCA register

Before dealing with any financial firm, the check that matters is the FCA register, at register.fca.org.uk. The FSCS describes the process in steps: first check the provider is authorised by the FCA, then find out whether the particular activity the firm is carrying out for you is regulated by the PRA or the FCA²⁴. The register shows what a firm is allowed to do and whether it is still trading³.

You can check online or telephone the FCA consumer helpline². Searching with the firm's firm reference number (FRN) gives the most accurate results, whether you are checking an insurer, an adviser or another provider²⁰. The FCA has also launched a Firm Checker tool to help consumers check whether financial services firms are authorised and have permission to sell products and services³⁴, and the FSCS points to the same register to see whether a firm mentioned to you is authorised³⁵.

One quirk to know: FCA employees are not listed on the Financial Services Register or Firm Checker¹. If someone claims to be from the FCA itself, the register will not confirm it, so use the helpline rather than the register for that.

Spotting scams and firms trading without permission

Unregulated does not automatically mean a scam, but scam operators exploit the perimeter deliberately. Boiler room schemes, which sell worthless or non-existent shares, are the classic example: the FCA does not authorise boiler rooms³⁶. The FSCS lists common scam types and the warning signs to look for, including pressure to act quickly and contact details that do not match the real firm's⁷.

The ombudsman's guidance is to use the FCA's Firm Checker to confirm a firm is authorised before you deal with it, and to check that the contact details match those listed, to avoid scammers pretending to represent a real firm³⁷. A firm can be genuine while the person contacting you is not.

Where unauthorised firms cause loss, the FCA can act, but its powers are limited. In one case it took civil action to stop the activity and obtain compensation for victims, and recovered about £380,000¹⁴. That is enforcement, not a guarantee: money recovered through court action depends on the case, and it is not a substitute for checking a firm before you invest. The scams and fraud section covers the warning signs in more detail.

Where to get help: firm, Financial Ombudsman and FCA helpline

The order of complaint matters. First complain to the firm itself. If it does not send you a final response letter within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with its response, you can bring the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service⁸. The ombudsman may be able to help if your complaint is about a financial adviser or pensions provider regulated by the FCA³⁹, and it covers banking and payments complaints too³⁸.

Pensions have a split route. If the firm you want to complain about is on the FCA Register, the Financial Ombudsman Service handles it; if the firm is not on the register, the complaint should be referred to the Pensions Ombudsman instead⁴². Before complaining, check the firm is regulated using the FCA's Firm Checker⁴².

If a firm has gone out of business, the route changes. The FSCS can consider claims, for example for bad advice on a defined benefit pension transfer, but only where the adviser has gone out of business and was regulated by the FCA at the time it gave the advice⁴¹. That is why the register check matters even after the event: it establishes whether the FSCS route exists at all.

For general questions, checking a firm or reporting a possible scam, the FCA Consumer Helpline is on 0800 111 6768, and it can provide information in large print, Braille or audio format⁹. Free, independent help is also available from Citizens Advice and MoneyHelper for money and pension questions, and from debt advice charities for debt problems.