The Financial Conduct Authority issued a record 1,300 consumer warnings in 2021 as it stepped up efforts to protect investors.

Many of the warnings related to scam websites, social media frauds and bogus websites.

The regulator said that during 2021 its contact centre helped prevent £4m being lost to scammers. 

The FCA issued the figures are part of a review of its consumer protection activities in 2021.

The watchdog said during the year it had refused a higher percentage of applications for authorisation with 1 in 5 declined compared to 1 in 6 the previous year.

The FCA said that during the year it had secured £5m to be paid back to people who invested in companies that were not authorised to undertake financial activity. 

A further £28.5m was frozen due to FCA action and set to be paid back to investors, subject to the outcome of legal action.

Social media and internet scams were a particular problem in 2021 and the FCA said it engaged with social media platforms and search engines to help ensure they complied with laws to protect people from scams and high-risk investments. 

Google has now made made changes to its policies to ensure that any financial advertiser have to be authorised by the FCA. 

The FCA has also called on Government to include paid-for advertising in the Online Safety Bill and pushed for changes to the regulation of crypto-assets. 

The FCA continued to challenge crypto asset firms who require registration for money laundering purposes. Nearly 90% of those firms have been refused or withdrawn their application as a result of FCA action.

Other key parts of its activity on 2021 included:

• The £11m InvestSmart campaign in October, targeting its ‘don’t get played’ message at younger, higher-risk investors. The campaign saw the FCA's first TikTok video and Instagram live session. 

• A new consumer investment strategy. The strategy includes making it easier for consumers to invest in "straightforward financial products", more assertive action to disrupt investment scams and strengthening rules around financial marketing.  

• Removing approval to undertake financial services from 176 firms which have not carried on regulatory activity in the last 12 months. 

During 2021 the FCA also began consulting on a new consumer duty to introduce a “higher and more consistent standard” of consumer protection for financial services consumers by July 2022. 

There was also guidance for firms on how they can better protected vulnerable customers and the FCA’s first ever criminal prosecution under anti-money laundering legislation with NatWest fined £264m.

The watchdog also reformed its decision-making processes in November to allow senior managers to decide on a firm’s authorisation, whether to impose requirements or begin criminal or civil proceedings.

FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi said: “The FCA has protected customers, enhanced the integrity of the UK’s financial system and promoted competition in 2021, despite the additional challenges of the pandemic. 

“We have reformed the general insurance market, saving consumers £4.2bn over 10 years, led the transition from LIBOR and helped small businesses claim £1.2bn against business interruption insurance cover. We are looking forward to using our innovative, adaptive and assertive approach to achieve even more for consumers and the financial market in 2022.”