FCA-Aware Lead Generation & Client Approval Workflow

We start with your compliance team, not despite them. The first step is a review of your permissions, your target client categories, and the promotional rules that apply to your products. From there we build the campaign — target universe, messaging framework, channel mix and data capture — inside those guardrails. Outreach runs across email, LinkedIn and phone, with every promotional element pre-approved and logged.

FCA compliance is one layer. GDPR governs personal data processing, and PECR governs electronic marketing. We ensure the campaign meets all three: lawful basis for processing, consent or legitimate-interest assessment for electronic marketing, and financial promotion approval for regulated content. Leads captured through the campaign come with the data lineage that shows how, when and on what basis each contact was acquired.

We work on a retained basis. This is not pay-per-lead, commission, or revenue share. A monthly retainer covers campaign design, compliance review, outreach execution and pipeline reporting. Firms that benefit most are those with a compliance function that wants lead generation to run inside the rules, not around them.

The FCA Register is the primary source we use to build and verify target universes for regulated campaigns. It tells us whether a firm is authorised, which permissions it holds, whether it is an appointed representative, and which individuals hold controlled functions. That lets us target firms by permission rather than by SIC code, exclude firms whose permissions do not match the offering, and verify a prospect before outreach rather than after. We re-check the Register at the start of every campaign cycle so that cancelled or varied permissions are removed from the universe. Our guide on how to use the FCA Register for lead generation explains the workflow in detail, and what FCA registered actually means covers the distinctions that matter when qualifying a prospect.

FCA-verified data means each record has been checked against the Register for authorisation status and permissions, and each contact has a documented lawful basis for processing and electronic marketing. In practice that means three records per contact: where the data came from, why it is lawful to process it, and whether the recipient can lawfully receive promotional content. Records carry the date of verification so stale data is refreshed rather than reused indefinitely.

Three questions decide how a message is treated. Does it invite or induce engagement in a regulated activity? Is the recipient categorised as retail, professional, elective professional, or certified high-net-worth or sophisticated? And has an authorised person approved the communication? We classify every asset in the campaign — subject lines, email bodies, LinkedIn messages, call guides, landing pages, downloadable content — against those questions, and route anything promotional to your approver with a record of the approval.

Compliance-led campaigns run across our sector programmes, including investment lead generation , wealth management lead generation , insurance lead generation and financial adviser lead generation .

It depends on what they do. A lead generator that only introduces potential clients and does not advise, arrange or communicate approved financial promotions on its own account is not normally carrying out a regulated activity. Introducing consumers for certain credit products can, however, be credit broking, which needs FCA authorisation. We are not FCA-authorised and do not give advice or arrange products. We work for FCA-authorised firms, and your compliance team approves every campaign message before it is sent.

The most useful source is the FCA Financial Services Register, which shows each firm's permissions, status, approved persons and appointed representatives. We combine it with Companies House filings, firm websites and professional directories to build verified target lists, and we record the source and date for each contact so you have an audit trail.