Financial services compliance teams face mounting pressure to supervise advisers across a wider range of social media platforms, as firms seek to meet changing client expectations without compromising regulatory oversight.
The issue was highlighted at the SIFMA Social Media & Digital Marketing Seminar at New York Law School, where compliance technology provider Red Oak discussed findings from the 2026 Global Advisor Study. Produced by Coalition Greenwich for LinkedIn, the study surveyed 1,551 financial advisers across 10 countries to examine how advisers build client relationships and the role digital communication plays in earning trust.
Personalised communication ranked as the leading factor in adviser credibility. Six in 10 respondents placed it among their top two trust-building factors, while 36% ranked it first. Professional reputation was the next most frequently cited factor, at 26%.
For compliance teams, the findings underline the challenge of supporting individualised client engagement while maintaining visibility over adviser communications. Although technology makes it easier to reach large audiences, generic messaging may be less effective at building lasting relationships. Giving advisers access to more communication channels can support personalisation, provided firms have suitable supervision controls in place.
Social media has also become an important part of the relationship between advisers and their clients. The research cited Coalition Greenwich’s 2025 Global Investor Study, which found that 60% of investors considered social media important to their relationship with a financial adviser. Among advisers, 61% shared that view.
The findings also revealed a difference in US attitudes, with investors placing greater importance on social media interaction than advisers. This gap could encourage firms to reassess how their digital engagement policies reflect client preferences.
Beyond relationship management, social platforms are an important source of business for advisers. Some 26% identified social media as a primary source of new clients, compared with 18% who cited online advertising and 15% who pointed to print advertising. Restricting access to certain platforms could therefore affect advisers’ ability to generate leads and develop new client relationships.
Generational shifts add another consideration for compliance departments. Gen Z advisers are more active on social media than older age groups, and their growing presence in the industry is likely to increase the importance of digital channels in client communications. Firms may need to broaden their supervision capabilities to accommodate these changing working practices.
However, advisers continue to identify regulatory requirements and internal policies as barriers to social media use. Compliance teams must balance these constraints against the need to support advisers’ communication preferences. Extending supervision across the platforms employees use can give firms greater oversight without requiring them to prohibit activity on channels that clients value.
Red Oak provides communications supervision technology covering social media platforms including LinkedIn and TikTok. Its approach is intended to help financial services firms monitor adviser communications across multiple channels while enabling professionals to engage with clients where they are active.
As social media becomes more closely linked to client acquisition and relationship management, the challenge for RegTech providers and compliance teams is to ensure that supervision frameworks keep pace. Firms will need to support personalised communication while maintaining the visibility and controls required to manage regulatory risk.
Copyright © 2026 FinTech Global
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
