Mimrah Mahmood

Financial regulators across Asia are continually recalibrating compliance rules for traditional products like insurance, loans and other financial services, but a new battleground has emerged on the regulatory frontier: the rise of the online influencer economy.

Notably, 52% of adults in Singapore and Hong Kong now turn to social media as their main source of financial advice, outpacing traditional channels and even family or friends, finds a new report by media intelligence and social analytics firm Meltwater, in partnership with MoneySmart.

This shift has fuelled the rise of social media financial influencers, or finfluencers, whose bold claims, oversimplified tips and influencer-style marketing often blur the line between promotion, sales advice or genuine guidance.

Finfluencer content creators can potentially navigate ethics, sponsorship and trust in a space where regulation is still catching up, raising serious questions about accountability, incentives and the real impact of advice in the age of TikTok and Telegram.

Speaking with The Asset in Singapore, Mimrah Mahmood, Meltwater’s vice-president for Asia-Pacific, says the firm’s artificial intelligence ( AI )-powered tools, including real-time monitoring agent Mira and analytics platform ExplorePlus ( Explore+ ), are helping financial institutions track these conversations across public feeds, paywalled sources and even closed networks. This enables them to spot misinformation, address misconduct and protect their brand before a single viral post becomes a regulatory or reputational crisis.

A single rogue post can ripple into reputational damage or even regulatory action. Mahmood points to recent cases in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia where governments have taken legal action against people promoting unlicensed financial products in closed Telegram groups.

“One agent or influencer going off-message can undo years of brand trust,” he warns. “These conversations aren’t just happening on public feeds anymore. They’re in WhatsApp, Signal and WeChat groups; and compliance teams can’t see most of it. Even in public spaces, there’s just so much noise that spotting problems early becomes a huge challenge.”

The style of finfluencers is also evolving. “You still see the classic exaggerated claims, guaranteed returns, risk-free, but now it’s packaged in short-form videos with no source attribution,” he adds. “That’s a big shift from traditional compliance breaches, which might be in formal brochures or ads reviewed before they go out. Here, the content is instant, influencer-driven and often completely unvetted.”

Dousing fires before they spread

Meltwater’s tools, Mahmood shares, allow institutions to set up real-time alerts for high-risk terms and run sentiment analysis to spot emerging threats. Some clients, he notes, receive 10 to 15 credible alerts a week, each turned into an internal “ticket” for compliance to handle. The firm’s AI agent Mira can filter for influencers above a certain follower threshold, analyse a year’s worth of posts and produce a risk-ranked table.

“That changes the game,” Mahmood stresses, “from reactive firefighting to proactive interception, stopping a small spark before it becomes a public or regulatory crisis.”

Frontier markets

Regulatory tightening of finfluencers is ongoing. The Monetary Authority of Singapore and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission have both moved to license anyone discussing financial products, even if they’re not giving formal advice. However, emerging and frontier markets, such as Vietnam or Cambodia, still lack such structured rules.

To address these gaps, Mahmood advises clients to go beyond minimum compliance: “Some of our clients monitor unregulated markets with the same rigour as Singapore or Hong Kong. It’s not because they have to, it’s because they want to protect the brand.”

Compliance meets marketing

In the next 12 to 18 months, Mahmood expects to see a convergence of compliance and marketing performance management. AI-powered influencer vetting will become standard, with platforms like Klear screening for both reach and risk profile before engagement.

The “surround sound” strategy, ensuring your message appears across multiple platforms and influencers, isn’t just about consumer reach anymore. It’s about making sure large language model systems like ChatGPT surface your brand when users ask about your market.

“Whether you like influencers or not, the reality is that AI models prioritize authentic, user-generated content over traditional media,” Mahmood explains. “If your story isn’t in those conversations, you might be invisible in the new search ecosystem.”

Sustaining trust now depends on preventing unethical tactics, addressing complaints in real time and monitoring operations with precision. With real-time social listening and media monitoring, firms can track finfluencer activity, detect early warning signs, analyze consumer sentiment and resolve non-compliance before it escalates, giving them the agility to protect their reputation and compete effectively in a rapidly evolving market.

And as social platforms get faster, more fragmented and more AI-driven, Mahmood believes the only viable approach for financial institutions is one that blends real-time compliance, proactive brand defence and data-led marketing, all powered by a single, integrated intelligence layer. “It’s not a nice-to-have anymore,” he states. “It’s survival.”