SM Advice has launched a multilingual social media content service to help advisers and firms engage more effectively with the UK’s diverse communities.
The service enables the creation, branding, and posting of financial content in multiple languages while ensuring compliance with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations.
According to the 2021 Census, 8.9% of the UK population — around 5.1 million people — speak a main language other than English, with 880,000 reporting little or no proficiency in English. The most commonly spoken languages beyond English are Polish, Romanian, and Punjabi. The new service aims to address this language barrier and support financial inclusivity by providing advisers with the tools to communicate more effectively with these underserved communities.
The multilingual social media solution offers content in over 1,000 languages, including local dialects. It is designed to help advisers connect authentically with non-English speakers, providing them with accessible financial information. SM Advice also claims that the service also ensures full compliance with FCA regulations, including approvals where required, to align with the Consumer Duty principles of fair and clear communication.
ALIGNING WITH CONSUMER DUTY
The FCA’s Consumer Duty requires firms to prioritise consumer interests, particularly in ensuring that financial promotions are clear, fair, and not misleading. By offering social media content in multiple languages, SM Advice aims to support advisers in meeting these regulatory expectations and in improving access to financial advice for those who may otherwise be excluded.
Setul Mehta (pictured), founder at SM Advice, said: “As advisers and firms seek to expand their reach and the industry and regulator wants to do more to support underserved under-reached communities, our service provides an end-to-end solution that ensures not only regulatory standards but allows advisers to engage with multilingual audiences in a meaningful way.”
Johnny Timpson, Financial Inclusion Commissioner, added: “Both as a Financial Inclusion Commissioner and Chair of an insurance brokerage serving consumers for whom English is not necessarily their first language, embracing innovative solutions that improve consumer financial inclusion and resilience by enhancing client access and engagement in underserved markets is essential.
“SM Advice’s multilingual social media service exemplifies this approach, leaving no client behind by promoting not just inclusivity but further demonstrating that Consumer Duty isn’t about standing still, it’s about evolving and embedding the right practices continually.”
Keith Richards, CEO of the Consumer Duty Alliance, emphasised the importance of clear communication: “Clear, accessible communication is at the heart of Consumer Duty. Financial advice should be inclusive, and language should never be a barrier to understanding. By helping advisers engage diverse communities in their native languages, solutions such as this support consumers to be communicated to fairly and consistently.”
Mehta added: “Through my wider industry roles, I have long advocated not just the reduction of the advice gap but for reducing financial exclusion by supporting underserved communities in accessing advice. This service removes one more barrier by ensuring clear, accessible communication—aligning with Consumer Duty principles, particularly around Consumer Understanding and reducing the risk of misinterpretation whilst complementing the FCA’s broader efforts to ensure equal access to financial information.”
