To check an investment firm, search the Financial Services Register by firm name or by firm reference number, then read five fields: whether the authorisation is current, which regulated activities are permitted, the exact legal entity name, the contact details the regulator holds, and whether the firm trades under its own authorisation or as an appointed representative of another. Those five catch most of what goes wrong — including the impersonation scams built specifically to exploit the register's existence.
The register is maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority and covers firms and individuals permitted to carry on regulated activities in the United Kingdom. It is free, public, and updated by the regulator rather than by the firms listed on it.
What the Financial Services Register tells you, and what it does not
The register is a statement of permission. It records what a firm is allowed to do and from when. It does not say the firm is competent, that its charges are fair, or that its investment process works. Reading a live entry as an endorsement is the most common misuse of it.
In one direction, though, it settles the question. A firm absent from the register and not covered by an exemption should not be taking your money for a regulated activity, and if the arrangement goes wrong you sit outside both the compensation scheme and the ombudsman service.
The five fields to read on a register entry
- 1
Status and effective dates
Look for a current authorisation rather than a lapsed one. An entry can perfectly well describe a firm that held permission for years and holds none now. The date permission started also works as a sanity check against a firm claiming decades of history.
- 2
Permissions
Managing investments, advising on investments and arranging deals in investments are three separate permissions. A firm permitted only to arrange deals cannot run a discretionary portfolio for you. Match the permission against the service being sold, not against the firm's self-description.
- 3
The legal entity name
Marketing names and trading styles rarely match the registered entity. The name on your agreement, the name on the bank details and the name on the register should reconcile. Where a trading name is in use, it should itself appear against that firm on the register.
- 4
Contact details held by the regulator
This is the field that defeats cloning. Compare the telephone number and website in the entry against the ones you were given, then make contact using the register's details rather than the ones in the email.
- 5
Principal firm, where one is shown
An appointed representative operates under somebody else's authorisation. The entry names the firm that accepts responsibility for it, and that principal is where liability ultimately runs.
Authorised, registered and exempt are three different words
The register uses these terms precisely, and the difference decides what protection attaches.
| Status | What it means | Compensation and ombudsman |
|---|---|---|
| Authorised | The firm holds permission for named regulated activities and is supervised against the conduct rules for them | Available for that regulated activity |
| Registered | The firm appears on a specific register — cryptoasset businesses under money laundering supervision, for example — without holding conduct permissions | Generally unavailable |
| Exempt or appointed representative | The firm operates under an exemption, or under a principal's authorisation | Runs through the principal, within the agreed scope |
Registration for anti-money-laundering purposes trips people most often. A firm can be genuinely listed by the FCA, describe itself accurately as registered with the FCA, and still be selling something that carries no conduct protection whatever.
Appointed representatives and where the liability sits
A large share of the retail market operates through appointed representatives. The representative is a separate business, frequently with its own brand and its own staff, carrying on regulated activity under the umbrella of an authorised principal that has agreed to answer for it.
For a client the arrangement is invisible and, in the ordinary case, harmless. Two consequences deserve attention anyway. What the representative may do is bounded by its agreement with the principal, so a service outside that scope is unregulated even though the firm looks regulated. And when a complaint or a compensation claim arises it attaches to the principal — an entity you have possibly never heard of, sitting a long way from the person you dealt with.
The register shows the relationship. Note who the principal is before the relationship starts rather than after it ends.
How clone firm scams exploit register entries
Cloning works by borrowing legitimacy. The operator copies the name, the firm reference number and often the registered address of a genuine authorised firm, then supplies a different telephone number, a lookalike domain and different bank details. The victim checks the register, finds a real firm with real permissions, and is reassured by precisely the check that was supposed to protect them.
One element of that check breaks the pattern reliably: using the contact details published in the register instead of the ones in the approach. A clone cannot edit the register entry. It can only hope nobody dials the number printed in it.
Two secondary signals recur in cloned approaches. Bank details in a name that differs from the firm's, and pressure to act before a rate or an allocation expires. A genuine investment firm will wait while you verify who it is.
Dormant domains that once belonged to a real regulated business make attractive raw material, because the historical association is authentic even when the current occupant is unrelated. Worth remembering whenever a familiar financial name reappears at an address you half-recognise.
Firm reference number, company number and the address you cannot visit
Three identifiers get mixed up. The firm reference number is issued by the FCA and is the one printed on regulated communications. The company registration number is issued by Companies House and identifies the legal entity, not its permissions. A firm can change its name at Companies House while keeping the same firm reference number, and a group can hold one company number across several separately authorised subsidiaries.
The address in a register entry is the one the firm gave the regulator. It is frequently a registered office belonging to an accountant or a company formation agent rather than a place where anybody advises clients. Turning up there proves nothing either way, and its appearance in an email signature proves nothing either — cloned approaches copy the registered address precisely because it checks out.
Checking the individual as well as the firm
The register also covers people. Individuals holding senior management functions appear alongside their firm and their function, and a wider set of client-facing staff appear in the directory of certified and assessed persons. An adviser who left the industry, or who never worked at the firm they name, shows up as absent.
Two checks are quick. Does the person advising you appear against the firm they say they work for, and does that firm hold the permission for the activity being described? A mismatch on either point is a reason to stop and ask. It costs nothing to look.
What the register does not cover
- Quality. No score, no ranking and no measure of client outcomes appears in an entry.
- Charges. Nothing in the register indicates what a firm costs or how it structures fees.
- Unregulated activity. An authorised firm can sell something wholly outside the regulatory perimeter — certain overseas property schemes, collectibles, some cryptoasset arrangements. Authorisation for one activity extends no protection to another.
- Overseas entities. A firm regulated elsewhere appears in limited form or not at all, and the protections attached differ substantially.
Where the perimeter falls matters more than most investors expect, because it decides whether the compensation scheme and the ombudsman exist for you at all. The newest category of regulated help, live since April 2026, is covered under advice, guidance and targeted support.