The Memo: Global regulatory taskforce takes on unauthorised 'finfluencer' promotions

In the age of influencers, it’s all about finding your niche, and niches there are plenty. We’ve recently seen the rise of the 'finfluencer,' a social media personality whose platform revolves around offering advice on spending, saving and investing. Unfortunately, these finfluencers often mislead their audiencers by making it all look easy and glamorous with various ‘get-rich quick’ schemes. 

In this day and age, it can be difficult to distinguish between the experts and unauthorised ordinary individuals when pursuing financial literacy, especially when these people may be promoting high-risk investments. However, those who promote financial products or services are subject to regulation, so those who don’t have approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may be committing a criminal offence. That said, while the FCA is able to request that social media platforms remove content that breaches regulations, but does not have the legal power to enforce these requests. 

Almost 20,000 promotions were amended or withdrawn following regulatory intervention in 2024 – almost double that of the previous year. As such, nine regulatory from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, the UAE and the UK have recently come together to clamp down on these finfluencers. According to the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Steve Smart, “Our message to finfluencers is loud and clear. They must act responsibly and only promote financial products where they are authorised to do so, or face the consequences.” The FCA has since made three arrests, invited four finfluencers for interview, sent seven cease and desist letters, and issued 50 warning alerts. It’s expected that these warning alerts will result in at least 650 requests to remove unauthorised content from finfluencers’ platforms.