Financial influencers must be licensed and regulated if they provide advice: Alvin Tan
SINGAPORE – Financial influencers who provide financial advice must be licensed and regulated, said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member Alvin Tan in Parliament on Nov 13.
Also known as “finfluencers”, these influencers use social media to share tips and insights on finance-related topics, such as investing, saving and budgeting.
MAS expects financial institutions that employ finfluencers to advertise their products or services to ensure that these individuals present information in a clear and balanced way that highlights key features and risks, said Mr Tan.
The regulator has issued guidelines to make it clear that any individual who is remunerated for making a recommendation or expressing an opinion on the buying, selling or holding of investment products will be considered as providing financial advice.
“Even if he or she is not remunerated, he will be considered to have provided financial advice if he makes such recommendations or expressions regularly. Posting of general educational content is not financial advice,” added Mr Tan, who is also Minister of State for Trade and Industry, as well as Culture, Community and Youth.
He was responding to a question from Mr Melvin Yong (Radin Mas) about regulation of the finfluencer sector and the number of complaints MAS has received against finfluencers.
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