The need for much greater regulation of financial advice provided by ‘celebrity' social media influencers was highlighted in a new survey of individual investors across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Friends Provident International (FPI).
One of the key features of the financial advice landscape in the UAE is that social media influencers play an important role, FPI said on 23 January.
No fewer than 24% of individual investors say that they would be ‘extremely confident' in taking financial advice from a social media influencer. An additional 27% say that they would be ‘somewhat confident' in doing so.
The figures vary markedly by nationality. At one extreme, 60% of Emirati investors would be ‘extremely' or ‘somewhat' confident in taking financial advice from a social media influencer.
At the other extreme, the corresponding figure is just 35% for Westerners. Some 46% of Westerners say that they would be ‘somewhat not confident' or ‘not at all confident' in taking financial advice from a social media influencer.
Later in the survey investors were also asked to name which one provider of advice would make them feel better equipped to make decisions about their financial futures.
Social media influencers were named by just 6% of investors. Of increasing importance are friends/peers (13%), bank advisers (14%), independent financial advisers (IFAs - 26%) and family (31%).
Some 8% of investors rely entirely on their own research efforts, while 2% depend on other sources of advice in relation to their financial futures.
