The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a ruling against an unregulated whiskey and gold investment firm over misleading online adverts.
The firm, Capgroup, is not regulated in the UK.
The ASA called the adverts, run in April, misleading because they breached the ASA’s CAP Code (which is based on FCA promotion rules) because it did not make it clear that whiskey investment was unregulated.
The ASA, which regulates advertising, also highlighted that the adverts breached the CAP code by not including material information about the risks of the investments.
Capgroup acknowledged that information about whiskey cask and physical gold investment products not being regulated was material. It said it had since added prominent wording on its website confirming its products were not regulated investments and the firm has since added appropriate warnings in relation to the variable nature of investments.
The whiskey and physical precious metals markets are not regulated within the UK and not subject to protections provided by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. The ASA requires firms to share this information with consumers in their advertising in order for them to be able to make informed decisions about a firm’s services and products.
The ASA ordered that the adverts must not be broadcast again in their current form.
The investigation by the ASA formed part of a wider piece of work on unregulated investment adverts online and on social media.
The ASA is the body responsible for dealing with complaints about advertising content which it deems to be irresponsible or misleading. It has the power to order that an advert must not be broadcast or published again in its current format.