The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that the payday loan companies might be banned from advertising in the country.

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA said banning advertising from the industry members is one of the option for the regulator as it looks to begin regulation of the industry from April next year. The industry might join cigarette companies and political parties in being banned from placing advertising in the British media.

"Clearly that is an option that could be considered if it was felt that the way that advertising was being used couldn't be dealt with through any other measures short of that," said Mr Wheatley.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had earlier warned the payday loan industry to improve the way lends to the customers or face fines. The regulator expressed concerns over the reckless lending and aggressive debt collection in the industry. OFT has already initiated investigations into aggressive debt collection practices at several payday lenders in the UK.

OFT was particularly concerned over repayment agreement called a continuous payment authority (CPA) that includes automatic repayment through credit or debit cards. The recommendations of a ban on advertising was discussed at a meeting involving payday lenders, regulators, charities and government that was organised to find ways to tackle the issues in the loan industry in the UK.