Financial Services Copywriting

Money is complicated. The writing doesn’t have to be.

Financial services has a reputation for being one of the most complicated and long-winded industries in the world. Some of that reputation is deserved. Pensions, mortgages, insurance, investments and lending involve genuinely complex products, strict rules and decisions that can affect people for decades.

But complicated products don’t need complicated explanations. The organisations people trust with their money are usually the ones that explain things clearly, admit what they don’t know and don’t hide the important bits in paragraph fourteen.

Trust is the real product

A current account, a pension or an insurance policy is largely invisible. Customers can’t pick it up, try it on or kick the tyres. What they’re really buying is a promise – and confidence that the organisation behind it will keep it.

That confidence is built, or lost, in the words. A website that answers the obvious questions. A letter that explains a change without sounding evasive. A policy document that someone can actually read before they need to make a claim.

Jargon has its place. It’s rarely on the homepage.

Financial language exists for good reasons. Among professionals, precise terms save time. But for most customers, unexplained jargon creates confusion, concern and, eventually, mistrust.

Good financial copywriting knows the difference. It keeps the technical accuracy and loses the fog – short sentences, plain words, real examples and a clear answer to the question every reader is quietly asking: what does this mean for me?

Fair, clear and not misleading

In financial services, clarity isn’t just good style. The Financial Conduct Authority expects financial promotions to be fair, clear and not misleading, and its Consumer Duty asks firms to make sure customers understand what they’re buying.

I’m not a compliance officer, and I don’t pretend to be. But I write with the rules in mind, flag claims that need evidence or qualification, and work happily alongside legal and compliance teams. Copy that’s clear from the start usually gets through sign-off faster, too.

Insurance: when the small print matters most

Most people read their insurance policy properly for the first time on the day they need to claim. By then, it’s rather too late to discover what “excess”, “exclusion” or “indemnity” actually meant.

Clear insurance copy helps people choose the right cover, understand what they’re protected against and know what to do when something goes wrong. That’s good for customers – and for the insurer’s complaints figures. I’ve written more about it in insurance copywriting.

B2B finance is still read by people

Investors, analysts, advisers, regulators and corporate clients know their subject. That doesn’t mean they enjoy wading through it. Annual reports, investor presentations, white papers and pitch documents still need a clear argument, a sensible structure and sentences that don’t require a second reading.

Writing for a professional audience means being precise without being dull – and knowing which details matter to the decision someone is trying to make.

Financial services copywriting services

I write for banks, building societies, insurers, investment firms, fintech businesses, advisers and professional services firms, including:

websites and product pages
customer letters, emails and policy documents
annual reports and investor communications
ESG and sustainability reports
white papers and thought leadership
brochures, guides and sales literature
case studies and executive biographies

Thirty years of making numbers make sense

My background in journalism, government speechwriting and commercial copywriting has involved explaining complicated subjects to people with very different levels of knowledge. Over the years, I’ve written for financial organisations including Barclays, Sainsbury’s Bank, Bain Capital, Nebeus and the Islamic Development Bank – from consumer websites to ESG reports.

I know when to simplify, when to qualify a claim and when to ask for the evidence rather than another adjective.

Got something that needs explaining properly?

Perhaps you’re launching a product, rewriting your website, preparing a report or trying to make your customer communications clearer. Send me the brief, the existing material or simply tell me what you’re working on.

I’ll ask a few questions. Then I’ll tell you whether I can help.