“20 Seconds to Comply!” – Finance Regulations and Affiliates – Why it’s Cool To Comply…
By Richard Wright, Programme Executive R.O.EYE
As if affiliates, networks, and agencies involved with promoting loans and credit programmes don’t have enough to worry about what with the ever increasing costs involved for paid search, the credit crunch, and the sheer level of competition out there, they also have the worry of falling foul of the various financial regulations.
Affiliates can run the risk of being removed from a programme, but ultimately of course it is the merchant who may suffer the most from any issues of non-compliance as they can suffer hefty penalties, and in extreme cases have their trading license revoked altogether.
From speaking with finance merchants personally I know that this is a massive headache for them, it is an issue that troubles them all the way up to board level and can effect their decision whether to embark on an affiliate programme at all. In fact some merchants believe that affiliate marketing exposes them to non-compliance as they feel there is little control over what their affiliate partners are doing.
A pro-active response to the problem is therefore required, and I think it is vital for everyone involved with promoting loans and credit programmes to be aware of the issues and demonstrate that they are committed to being compliant.
I believe by doing this we can all help to present a more professional image of the industry, making finance merchants more comfortable (therefore more willing), to allocate more of their marketing budget to the affiliate channel.
BTW, “20 Seconds to Comply!” was a line from Robocop and a song by Silverbullet for those still scratching their heads!!