FCA warns trading app designers not to encourage gambling-like behaviour

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has called on designers of stock trading to make sure they do not lure investors to behave like they were gambling.

The watchdog identified features like sending frequent notifications with the latest market news and rewarding consumers with in-app "points" and celebratory messages for making trades, the FCA said.

“Some product design features could be contributing to problematic, even gambling-like, investor behaviour,” Sarah Pritchard, FCA executive director of markets, said.

“We expect all firms that offer stock trading to consumers to review and, where appropriate, make improvements to their products based on these findings.”

The FCA said research looking at 3,000 users across several app companies raised concerns that customers are exposed to high-risk investments, and that some appear to exhibit behaviours similar to problem-gambling.