Financial influencers, or ‘finfluencers’ are individuals who share advice and promote financial products using social media. While this in itself is not necessarly harmful, some of the content can be, with finfluencers often focussing on investments and credit lending, and opening up the risk for potential misinformation, secret agendas, and unregulated advice.
FCA Crackdown
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently aiming to crackdown on illegal finfluencers, with 9 regulators from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, getting involved as of 2nd June 2025.
‘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.’ – Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA
The FCA’s warning alerts will result in more than 650 take down requests on social media platforms and more than 50 websites operated by unauthorised finfluencers.
Rising Popularity
In a world where our attention spans are getting ever shorter, the promise of short, digestible, easy to understand videos or posts can certainly be appealing.
According to Barclays’ latest consumer research, 23% of Brits are now turning to social media, community messaging apps, and online forums for investment guidance, with TikTok ranking as the most popular platform for financial advice among 18-24 year olds (46%).
According to Aegon, there has been over a 275% year-on-year increase in 2024 of #FinTok video Videos on TikTok alone.
What is the Risk?
According to data from Barclays, finfluencer misinformation is becoming a key issue online, with 52% of investment scams taking place on social media and 39% of 18-24 year olds reporting that they feel unsafe online due to the prevalence of scams. Some finfluencers may even have the right motives, but due to not having proper financial trainings, are unaware that they may be endorsing a fraudulent scam or offering poor financial advice.
According to their data 19% turn to finfluencers because it provides them with “free advice to financial experts”. However, it’s important to remember that a lot of the time, these finfluencers are in fact not financial experts. These individuals do not have to be regulated or qualified to give this financial ‘advice’ online, and may not even have any form of financial or investment experience.
It’s also important to note that your social media is not tailored to your own personal and financial circumstances, and so what might work for one person’s financial situation might not work for yours!
Given that a lot of finfluencers engage their audiences by using short videos, images and text, they often fail to include the full information and terms and conditions that you need in order to make fully informed financial decisions.
Another risk to consider is what the finfluencer’s motivation is. Some have genuine intentions, but others may have been paid by an individual or business to promote their high-risk investment schemes.
Staying Safe
- Be aware of the risks outlined above
- Don’t give out your personal or financial information online
- Always take your time before making any decisions, don’t let anyone pressure you
- Never invest what you can’t afford to lose
- Seek regulated advice from qualified advisers-
- Check the FCA warning list, online financial services register, and list of unauthorised firms and individuals