Bankers are being usurped by TikTok influencers for financial advice

The country’s top bankers got together in the plush surrounds of the Marker Hotel, overlooking Grand Canal Quay in Dublin’s docklands, to talk all things retail at an industry conference on Monday.

One of the few senior figures to admit any shortcomings on the part of the sector was An Post managing director Debbie Byrne, who said the industry has left a gap whereby people are now turning to “influencers” for their financial advice.

“What we don’t want is them getting their financial information on TikTok,” she said. “That’s exploded. I think that’s really frightening. It’s not just the younger demographic. It is extending right up to people in their 40s. There is clearly a gap that we as an industry have left if people are looking to influencers on TikTok with no financial or other kind of qualifications, so that’s a gap we collectively need to fill.”

The point was picked up during a later session by Brian Hayes, who heads the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), which organised the event. He touched on financial literacy, something several speakers said was “very low” here.

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“There are some worrying signs on investments, that a younger generation of investors are relying on advice from friends and family, or peers, or baseball players in the United States who allegedly know something about how to invest long term,” he quipped.

Accountability for bankers and how it will work

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The bankers also took stock of the reputational recovery of the industry following the financial crash and the State bailout of the sector post-2008. Marion Kelly, chief executive of the Irish Banking Culture Board, said trust levels “remain low but are improving”.

The conference was attended by Charles Roe, who is director of mortgages at the BPFI’s sister group UK Finance. He said trust levels in British banks went up “astronomically” in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis.

Something tells us the Irish banks have a way to go before they can make similar claims.