Australian regulator cracks down on finfluencers over unlawful financial advice

SYDNEY - Australia’s corporate regulator said on June 12 it had issued warnings to a number of social media “finfluencers”, accusing them of offering misleading financial advice and promoting high-risk investment products to their followers.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) warned that the accounts often provided deceptive information and flagged it had sent notices to 18 social media “finfluencers” who were not licensed to provide financial advice.

The action was taken as part of the Global Week of Action Against Unlawful Finfluencers held last week, which saw regulators from around the world using regulatory and enforcement powers against unlawful financial influencers.

Measures against such illegal activity included arrests, warning notices, website takedowns, and alerts to consumers of the risks of unauthorised and misleading finfluencer content.

ASIC said it is concerned that consumers could be harmed by finfluencers providing unauthorised financial product advice and promoting high-risk, complex investment products, such as contracts for difference (CFDs) and over the counter (OTC) derivative products.

If a finfluencer is not licensed, an authorised representative or exempt, they are legally not permitted to carry on a business of providing investment business in Australia, the regulator said.

ASIC along with market regulators from the UK, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Hong Kong and Canada took coordinated actions against such unauthorised finfluencers. REUTERS

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