Dianomi are experts in financial services marketing and advertising – since 2003 we have run thousands of campaigns for well known banks and financial services clients. Our clients include Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, DBS, Citibank, PIMCO, ASX, Nomura, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, HSBC and abrdn.

Our finance ads are only seen by users already reading about business and money on 350 premium finance sites including WSJ, Reuters, CNN Business, MarketWatch, City AM and Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Dianomi hosted “Financial Services Marketing 2024” at UTS Business School in Sydney on Thursday, May 30, 2024.

Dianomi’s Financial Services Marketing 2024 event in Sydney

 

Financial services advertising for marketers

How important is context for financial services advertising?

The context in which an advertisement for financial services advertisement is viewed is very important. Trust is an absolute necessity for users when dealing with financial services companies and, therefore, it is essential to appear alongside high quality content whilst avoiding low quality websites (especially MFAs) or environments where an advertisement for a trustworthy client may be viewed alongside fraud or low quality content. Some regulators may take into account the context of the advertisement and your distribution obligations (see below).

The “tsunami” of fraud is to be avoided

In recent years there has been a tsunami of digital fraud on social media and on poor quality sites. This has been widely documented but shows no sign of slowing down.

Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp (The Guardian)

Martin Lewis (Money Saving Expert) gives evidence to the UK parliament about fraud: “I am very disappointed at how many scam ads still happen on Facebook … the torrent of scams”

Martin Lewis tsunami of fraud on Facebook House of Commons UK

Audience

There are broadly three types of investors:

Retail – most investors are ‘retail’: non-professional investors who do not meet the criteria for wholesale. Popular products for retail investors include stocks & shares, ETFs, pensions, savings and property.

Wholesale – investors who meet criteria set by the regulator in their jurisdiction can have access to more investments, which may be more risky.

United States

In the US investors can be “Accredited” with a net worth over USD $1 million, excluding primary residence (individually or with spouse or partner) and income over $200,000 (individually) or USD $300,000 (with spouse or partner) in each of the prior two years, and reasonably expects the same for the current year. There are qualifying professional criteria too.

Australia

In Australia these investors are referred to as “Sophisticated” (a gross income of AUD $250,000 or more per year in each of the previous two years, or net assets of at least AUD $2.5 million)

Singapore

In Singapore investors can “Accredited” (Minimum income of SGS $300,000 in the last 12 months (or its equivalent in a foreign currency); or net personal assets exceeding SGD $2 million, of which the net value of the primary place of residence can only contribute up to SGD $1 million; or net financial assets exceeding SGD $1 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency); or hold a joint account with an Accredited Investor, in respect of dealings through that joint account.)

Professional: Institutional – professional investors generally investing on behalf of others and Financial advisors – advising others where to invest.

To reach these three audiences you can use Dianomi’s premium finance and business sites including WSJ, MarketWatch, City AM, Market Index, Dollars & Sense, Reuters, CNN Business, BBC, South China Morning Post, Forbes and many others.

You can also combine our premium sites with Dianomi Cohorts which include Self-directed investors, Financial advisers, Institutional and professional investors, Traders, HNWI & Affluent and Commodities-interested users (full Cohorts list).

Type of product

Rules vary by type of financial product and by regulator / country. Some examples:

There are severe penalties in Australia for offering inducements to sign up to CFD trading (ASIC – CFD product intervention order takes effect) whereas in the UK CFDs on crypto assets cannot be marketed by anyone “acting in, or from, the UK” (FCA bans the sale of crypto-derivatives to retail consumers).

In Singapore (MAS), crypto services cannot be marketed to the public: “Digital Payment Token (“DPT”) service providers should not promote their DPT services to the general public in Singapore” – MAS Guidelines on Provision of Digital Payment Token Services to the Public [PS-G02]

Compliance

Compliance with applicable law is essential for financial services advertising.

Guaranteed returns, over-optimistic advertising or incorrectly targeted advertising can attract substantial fines or prison terms.

Understanding local markets is also essential – what is perfectly legal in Singapore may be illegal in Australia or vice versa and what is legal in Australia may not be legal in the UK or vice versa.

Regulation

Regulators will require advertisers offering most financial services to be licensed if operating from their jurisdiction or offering services to potential clients in their jurisdiction.

For example: Any financial services advertiser targeting Australia will generally need an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) from ASIC.

Any financial services advertiser targeting Singapore will generally need to be licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Penalties for unlicensed provision of financial services or breaching the terms of a licence can be very severe, including fines and prison sentences.

Updates from regulators

Regulators often publish updates on marketing of various financial products.

Australia – ASIC

RG 234 Advertising financial products and services (including credit): Good practice guidance -Nov 2012

Advertising financial products and services: obligations and ASIC’s expectations – Sep 2020

Discussing financial products and services online (social media finfluencers must be licensed) – Mar 2022

Hong Kong – HKMA

Key Observations and Sound Practices on Consumer Protection in respect of Digital Marketing Activities

Singapore – ASAS

Updated Guidelines on Advertising of Investments – Aug 2015

Singapore – MAS

Guidelines on Standards of Conduct for Marketing and Distribution Activities by Financial Institutions [FSG-G02] – Dec 2016

FAQs on Fair and Balanced Advertising and Other Advertising Restrictions – Mar 2019

United Kingdom – FCA

New screening checks required to approve financial adverts – Sep 2023

Financial promotions and adverts – May 2024

FCA warns firms and finfluencers to keep their social media ads lawful – Mar 2024

United States – SEC

Marketing Compliance Frequently Asked Questions – Feb 2024

Product design and distribution obligations

Some regulators require that certain products must be advertised to only relevant consumers / investors so context of advertising is essential, for example, some products should be advertised on financial websites and not at a football game.

For example, ASIC the regulator in Australia, states “issuers and distributors must take ‘reasonable steps’ that are reasonably likely to result in financial products reaching consumers in the target market defined by the issuer” [RG 274 Product design and distribution obligations]

This could be achieved using Dianomi’s premium finance sites, audiences and Cohorts.

Disclosure and Risk Warnings

Risk warnings will be required for many products and to be prominently displayed on advertised websites. Some regulators will also require these to be within ad creative for certain products, perhaps CFDs or other risky products.

Disclosure (the sharing of relevant information with potential clients prior to them buying or investing) is common practice across the world and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Good Disclosure Principles set out that disclosure to retail investors must be timely, relevant and complete, promote product understanding, promote product comparison, highlight important information and have regard to consumers’ needs.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) describes one possible issue involving both risk warnings and disclosure: “In general, due to the limitation of certain marketing channels or means (e.g. limited space or words of online banners or dark posts 3) and thus limited marketing information to be displayed in those channels, customers are usually provided with a hyperlink which can bring them to the AI’s (Authorised Institution’s) promotion or product landing page where further details of the marketing campaigns and the promoted product are made available. However, we noted that some of the AIs’ digital marketing channels (such as online advertising banners, dark posts on social media and posts / articles / blogs published by third parties engaged), which contained only limited information about the promotion and product, would bring the customer directly to the AI’s mobile app for immediate application for products or services. Such practice may prevent customers from getting access to and understanding necessary information before submitting an application.”

Social media influencers who discuss financial products – “finfluencers”

It is widely agreed by regulators that social media influencers who discuss or recommend financial products (or “finfluencers”) must be licensed.

Australia – ASIC

Discussing financial products and services online – Information Sheet 269 (INFO 269) – Mar 2022

Singapore – MAS

Reply to Parliamentary Question on complaints against online finfluencers – Nov 2024

United Kingdom – FCA

FCA cracks down on illegal finfluencers – Oct 2024

UK watchdog interviews 20 social media ‘finfluencers’ under caution. Britain’s financial watchdog (FCA) has interviewed 20 social media influencers under caution, as it clamps down on “finfluencers” who may be touting financial services products illegally. – Oct 2024

United States – FINRA

Finfluencers: New Marketing Strategies Meet Existing Compliance Obligations

Further information

In this video “Finfluencers! How Good is Popular Personal Financial Advice?” , Patrick Boyle describes some of the potential issues with finfluencers’ (“a person who by virtue of their popular or cultural status has an outsize impact on investor decisions through social media influence”) advice and compares it to the financial advice of academics.

Financial Services Marketing and Advertising in the news

Lululemon brand ambassador, finance advisors: 13 content creators get an advance budget reading – Sydney Morning Herald

In Australia, finfluencers were invited to the advance, locked-in, reading of the budget before its release to Parliament for the first time. The Sydney Morning Herald reported “13 content creators – including Milly Rose Bannister, Equity Mates and Tash Invests, who collectively have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers and more on other platforms – were granted entry into the Parliament House lock-up to get an early look at the budget papers.”

Singapore’s Chocolate Finance suspends instant withdrawals – Finews Asia

Chocolate Finance experienced a rush of withdrawals after changing its miles reward program. Potentially a good case study of the pitfalls of reward schemes for behavioural economists and those interested in gamification.

‘Many finance marketing campaigns lack humanity’ – FT Adviser

The best form of marketing is a personalised strategy that enhances the client experience, according to Megan Pope, marketing executive at First Wealth. But too often financial marketing is focused on products and ignores the emotion of money, she says.

UK’s abrdn renames itself ‘aberdeen’ in strategy revamp – Reuters

Abrdn said on Tuesday it would add back dropped vowels in its name. The investment group said it would now start to use ‘aberdeen’ as its principal trading name. It had changed its name from Aberdeen Standard Life in 2021 to ‘abrdn’.

UK’s watchdog FCA ponders rule changes to simplify comparisons of financial products – The Guardian

The City watchdog is considering changing rules to allow people to receive clearer information from financial firms to make it easier for them to find and compare products.

Learn more about Financial Services Marketing

Dianomi host an annual invite-only event ‘Financial Services Marketing’ – here is the announcement for the event in Sydney in June 2025 and in Singapore in September 2025.

Important

As we explain above, this is a complicated and highly regulated sector. This article is for general interest only and must not be relied on.

More

What is Native Advertising?

Made For Advertising websites (MFAs) – what are they?

What is a chumbox?

What does a fraud investment advertisement look like?

Should you pause your financial services advertising over Christmas and the New Year holidays?

Events: Financial Services Marketing Sydney June 2025 and Financial Services Marketing Singapore September 2025