Two Southeast Asian countries – Thailand and Indonesia – have signalled that they are stepping up the monitoring and education of digital-based content creators that offer financial advice. 

Earlier this month, the Stock Exchange of Thailand ( SET ) launched its Happy Money Content Creator programme that seeks to transform financial influencers, or finfluencers, into credible advocates for personal finance.

The programme is a financial literacy and training initiative designed specifically for content creators, who have at least 1,000 followers on any social media channel, including but not limited to TikTok, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.

The SET’s actions follow the findings of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission’s research department, which found that around 50% of Thai Gen-Z investors, or those between the ages of 13 and 28, rely primarily on social media for investment insights. 

The growing influence of social media in the past decade, says Soraphol Tulayasathien, the SET’s senior executive vice-president, make such a programme necessary so that content creators are equipped with “accurate financial and investment knowledge” that resonates with the regulator’s efforts to cultivate financial literacy among the general public. 

“Through our latest Happy Money Content Creator campaign, the SET aims to provide a broad spectrum of content creators and influencers with the age-appropriate financial management and investment knowledge essential for their financial security,” Soraphol adds. “Furthermore, these content creators will serve as key catalysts in expanding financial literacy to wider audiences, laying the groundwork for sustainable financial well-being among Thais in line with our strategy and the concept of ‘Make it Work for Every Future’ in celebration of SET’s 50th anniversary.”

Content creators who sign up for the programme, the regulator notes, will be able to attend sessions that discuss the basics of managing personal finances, investment strategies and financial resilience for free. 

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Indonesia, the country’s financial regulator, the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan ( OJK ), is leaning towards more formal regulation of financial influencers. 

The OJK, points out Friderica Widyasari Dewi, its chief executive for behavioral supervisory of financial business, education and consumer protection, hopes to put in place regulation that will supervise financial influencers by the second half of 2025. 

The regulator, Dewi shares, is currently consulting stakeholders; and that part of the regulation, once in place, will define what kind of qualifications influencers should have, as well as transparency standards they must meet, and how they should present their information.

And, while financial influencers play an important role in disseminating information to the public, she says, the OJK needs to be certain that said information is honest, clear and not misleading. 

In addition to qualifications, the new rules will also involve disciplinary measures, should said content creators violate these rules. 

“People now tend to prefer getting their information from influencers,” she states. “So, our approach is to bring them into the fold, to guide and support them, so that when they speak to the public, they meet the criteria we are putting in place.” 

The move by the Thai and Indonesian regulators follows that of the Malaysian Securities Commission ( SC ), which updated its guidance note on finfluencers in July 2024. 

Under those guidelines, the SC reminded finfluencers in Malaysia that promotion of a capital market product on social media platforms “may require a licence from the SC in certain circumstances”. The sharing of financial insights or recommendations, the SC specifies, that promote certain capital market products to followers with the expectation of commissions or other rewards will require a licence.