SEBI's latest work in progress: new guidelines for financial influencers

The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is working on guidelines to regulate the work influencers, who create financial content on social media.

Many influencers, such as Anushka Rathod, Sharan Hegde, Neha Nagar, Ankur Warikoo and others, create content related to real estate, stock market investment, loans and borrowing money and credit cards, banking interest and debt repayment.

According to media reports, the announcement was made during a Kroll-CII national conference on ‘Corporate Frauds: Governance and Risk Management’ held in Mumbai yesterday (November 17). The regulatory board notes that some of the mediums that 'finfluencers' disseminate information through include Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook.

The main trigger for SEBI to look more closely into this particular area of influencer marketing, is quoted in a Mint report, “SEBI has been receiving information that messages containing stock tips and other investment advice, with respect to selected listed companies, are being widely circulated through websites and social media platforms."

As per SEBI, the people who work as financial advisers, register themselves as investment advisers, but there are no such rules for 'finfluencers' in India.

SEBI has created a set of regulations that pertain to celebrity endorsements of cryptocurrency as well as overall guidelines for influencer marketing. The regulatory board covered both these areas of social media marketing earlier this year.

(Hero image via Habib on Pexels.)