Financial products are hard to make watchable and regulated to the word, so most finance brands either skip creators or run campaigns so cautious nobody notices. Seven finance and insurance campaigns later, here is how to clear compliance and still beat a category that struggles to reach 1% engagement.
The category benchmark is low - which is the opportunity
Finance and insurance content in Singapore typically engages under 1% of viewers. Ours: Etiqa 2.44%, Hong Leong Assurance 2.30%, OCBC FRANK's top campus video 10.30%. The bar is low because most brands talk about the product. The ones that work talk about the person.
Stories, not policies
Hong Leong Assurance's Home Protect360: the brief led with scenarios - the kitchen fire, the flooded bathroom - and the policy came second. 2.30% engagement on 109K views. Etiqa's Live Ready: true stories from creators' lives, not coverage tables. 282K views, 207K reach. Citi Singapore: financial education told as lifestyle content, Citi tools appearing inside everyday routines - 200K accounts reached and +15% following in two weeks, against a 5–10% norm.
The compliance team approves the script either way. The difference is whether anyone watches it.
Casting by audience, not by 'finance creator'
Singapore has a small pool of dedicated finance creators and every bank has used them. Longbridge's brokerage campaign cast 17 creators across finance, lifestyle and comedy; 4 did over 100K views each, 615K+ combined reach, and the campaign went from 34K views (campaign one) to 798K (campaign two) - 23x. 130K of those views were organic; paid boost behind the winners did the rest.
OCBC FRANK for students: 4 campus TikTok creators, and 1 in 5 engagements was a share - students sending a bank to each other. Uniswap's crypto education: 22 creators, a quiz, no sign-up, no token - 104K views with 19% of engagement being saves.
How compliance works in practice
- Brief with the guardrails in it. Required disclaimers, prohibited claims (returns, guarantees, comparisons), and mandatory disclosure of the paid partnership, written into every creator's brief before they film.
- Script approval before filming. The creator submits a script or outline; your compliance team approves; only then does production start. This adds a week; plan for it.
- Content approval before posting. Final video reviewed against the approved script.
- Caption and pinned-comment templates so disclaimers and risk warnings appear consistently.
- Archive everything - briefs, approvals, final posts, screenshots - for audit.
MAS advertising guidelines and the relevant industry codes are the reference; your compliance team owns the interpretation and we build the process around it. Every finance campaign we've run has gone through this and none has been pulled.
What to measure in finance
- Acquisition: account opens or app installs via trackable links, where permitted.
- Education campaigns: saves (Uniswap 19%) and watch time - people studying, not scrolling.
- Brand campaigns: follower growth (Citi +15%), reach in the target segment, brand search lift.
- Shares as the trust metric - OCBC FRANK's 1 in 5.
More on our finance and insurance campaigns.
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Take the 2-minute quizFrequently asked questions
Can banks and insurers in Singapore use influencer marketing?
Yes, within MAS advertising guidelines and industry codes. Citi Singapore, OCBC FRANK, Etiqa, Hong Leong Assurance, Longbridge and Uniswap Labs have all run compliant creator campaigns with us, with scripts approved by their compliance teams before filming.
What engagement rate is good for finance content?
The category typically sits under 1%. 2%+ is strong - Etiqa reached 2.44% and Hong Leong Assurance 2.30%. Campus TikTok content can go much higher: OCBC FRANK's top video hit 10.30%.
How does compliance approval work with influencers?
Guardrails are written into the brief, scripts are approved by your compliance team before filming, final content is approved before posting, and disclaimers use fixed templates. It adds about a week to the timeline.
Should finance brands only use finance influencers?
No. The dedicated finance-creator pool in Singapore is small and overused. Longbridge cast across finance, lifestyle and comedy and grew from 34K to 798K views between campaigns. Cast by audience, then make the script compliant.