Finfluencers are social media personalities who use their platforms to promote financial products and share insights and advice with their followers. There has been a significant increase in finfluencers over recent years. They are not authorised by the FCA, and are (usually) unqualified to give financial advice to the younger and often very impressionable age groups who follow them.
In March 2024, the FCA published guidance on financial promotions on social media. The guidance covered the FCA's expectations when firms and influencers use social media to communicate financial promotions, and also aimed to address emerging consumer harm that the FCA has seen arising from using social media. It has also produced joint guidance with the ASA.
In October 2024, the FCA announced that it was taking targeted action against influencers who were potentially promoting financial services products in breach of the law - due to court delays, some of the cases will not be held until 2027.
The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has now launched a new inquiry about finfluencers.
The inquiry homepage says that the Committee will take oral evidence on 30 April 2025 from Steve Smart, FCA Joint Executive Director for Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA and Lucy Casteldine, FCA Director of Consumer Investments.
The Committee hasn't published any other information about the scope of the inquiry.
When we know more about the inquiry, we will update this article.
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