Chocolate Finance debacle shines spotlight on ‘finfluencers’

[SINGAPORE] Chocolate Finance’s issues with customers’ instant withdrawals have placed the role of financial influencers, or “finfluencers”, in an uncomfortable spotlight.

A notable incident was financial blogger Seth Wee’s video on Sunday (Mar 9) about Chocolate Finance’s withdrawal from payment platform AXS as a reason for him to take out his funds from the digital wealth player.

The licensed financial adviser has a steady following of some 15,300 on his YouTube channel and has garnered about 55,000 views on that video, as at Mar 14. He also has about 27,600 subscribers on his Telegram channel.

Chocolate Finance halted instant withdrawals on Mar 10, sparking alarm among its users. In 2024, many were attracted to Chocolate Finance for its interest rates, which were higher than that available for fixed deposits. Several finfluencers had posted content in favour of these offerings.

In today’s social media environment, the new generation of investors is much more likely to consider advice from finfluencers, who may offer pointers across topics including traditional investing to investing in cryptocurrencies, said Justin Ong, asset and wealth managed services leader, PwC.