JAKARTA: Indonesia is requiring financial influencers to disclose paid promotions and obtain licences to recommend assets as South-East Asia’s largest economy joins a global movement to tighten oversight of the social media personalities.
The Financial Services Authority also issued guidelines that hold companies responsible for information shared by financial influencers as part of marketing deals, according to a statement on Wednesday (June 24). The authority will require crypto influencers to have an unspecified certification, it said.
Indonesia joins countries including Singapore and India that are tightening oversight of financial influencers, whose popularity has grown in recent years as young retail investors increasingly turn to them for investing advice. Government data shows that more than half of the retail investors in Indonesia are under 30.
The guidelines aim to promote financial literacy while also protecting consumers from unscrupulous practices, the regulator said. The authority in February fined an influencer 5.4 billion rupiah (US$300,785) for manipulating stock prices.
The policy coincides with Indonesia’s push to reform its stock market after index compiler MSCI Inc. earlier this year threatened to downgrade the nation’s classification, citing transparency and accessibility concerns. The nation’s benchmark stock index has slumped 32 per cent so far this year, making it the worst performer in the world.
Companies that breach requirements on marketing through influencers can face written warnings, licence revocations and fines of as much as 15 billion rupiah, according to a copy of the guidelines. - Bloomberg
