Motor finance revs up City watchdog’s PR spend
The motor finance scandal has helped rev up the financial watchdog’s spend on public relations agencies as it fought to warn consumers of the risks of using claims management firms.
The car mis-selling saga – where City banks have been put on the hook for billions in compensation over the use of ‘secret’ car deals that left consumers in the dark – has dominated the regulator’s agenda since the beginning of 2024.
Throughout that window, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spent over half a million pounds bringing in external PR agencies to help communication manoeuvres across group operations, according to a Freedom of Information request by City PM.
The watchdog pointed specifically to the car finance debacle – which has swept up the likes of Lloyds, Barclays and Santander – as helping lead to a hike in spending.
“Our work with public relations and communications agencies helps us to deliver on our strategy,” the FCA – which has its own dedicated internal communications unit that leads on its campaigns and messaging – said.
“We help consumers to navigate their financial lives by informing them how they can use our firm checker tool to find out if financial services firms are authorised or by raising awareness they may be owed car finance compensation and how to claim.”
In the fourth quarter of 2024, PR spend reached £180,000 – nearly double the second highest quarter, which was the third quarter of 2025 at £98,000.
This came as the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of consumers in October 2024 in three landmark cases that led to the FCA drastically widening its scope to review all forms of car finance commissions.
The regulator operates independently of the government and is financed through a periodic fee on authorised firms and one-off levies on those applying for authorisation.
It has been on a communications offensive against using claims firms’ “aggressive marketing” in the last year, as the FCA sought to caution consumers against using them to receive compensation.
In September, it hired a team of influencers for a campaign across radio and online advertising to let customers know they didn’t need to use a claims firm to get compensation.
This coincided with the second-biggest spike in PR spend and followed the Supreme Court’s August ruling, which left the door open for an industry-wide redress scheme.
The FCA published the final details for its redress program earlier this year, but faced backlash from both industry and consumers who accused the regulator of misinterpreting the top Court’s ruling.
Ongoing campaigns also contributed to the watchdog’s PR expenditure, which its Investsmart project that warns retail investors against ‘get rich quick’ and ‘pump-and-dump’ scams.