FCA advarer aktiehandelsapps mod gamification

UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) har advaret aktiehandelsapps mod at tilføje gamification-elementer til deres platforme og siger, at de kan få brugere til at foretage højrisikoinvesteringer og føre til gambling-lignende adfærd.

Regulatoren siger, at gamification kan "engagere forbrugerne positivt", men fandt ud af, at det bliver brugt på måder, der kan vildlede forbrugere eller forårsage dårlige resultater.

The warning to review design features such as gamification comes after the FCA surveyed more than 3,000 users across four trading apps. The regulator also included users of a more traditional investment platform as a control. In-depth interviews were also conducted with a sample of 20 users.

The FCA found that points, badges, push notifications and celebratory messages led to users being more likely to invest in products beyond their risk appetite.

Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets at the FCA, says: “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 regulator says 1.15 million new accounts were opened across the four trading app firms in the first four months of 2021, almost double the amount opened with all other retail investment services combined.

The FCA intends to do further research into trading app use and design features, in particular to understand some wider financial vulnerabilities for users of these apps.