Google Announces New Verification Rules for Financial Advertisers Across Europe

Google has officially announced a major expansion of its financial advertiser verification program. As part of the change, the company has introduced stricter checks to virtually every country across the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).

Google wants financial advertisers in the EU and EEA to prove they’re legitimate

According to the company, the rollout covers 24 additional countries and significantly expands a system that is already active in several European markets and other regions around the world. Under the expanded program, financial advertisers will be required to complete Google’s verification process and verify that they are authorized by the appropriate national financial regulator.

Rather than simply confirming an advertiser’s identity, Google says the new system checks credentials against official regulatory databases. The idea is to stop fraudulent financial promotions before they ever appear in front of users.

The company says the initiative builds upon its broader advertiser identity verification framework, which already covers more than 98% of ads shown across the European Union. Google also highlighted the scale of the problem it’s trying to address. According to the company, its systems blocked or removed more than 1.6 billion ads across the EU last year. Globally, its financial services verification framework has already helped block or remove 327.8 million unauthorized financial advertisements.

Businesses will have 30 days to comply

Google says the rollout will happen in phases, giving affected advertisers a 30-day window to complete the verification process. However, companies that fail to complete the checks within that timeframe may see their financial advertising campaigns restricted until verification is finalized.

Google is also cracking down on scammers, with the company linking Outsider Enterprise to 9,000 fake websites. In other Google-related news, the company will start using IP addresses for ads in Europe, while the UK wants to make search rankings more transparent.