South Africa, June 15 -- When the system they were supposed to trust became inaccessible, expensive, or spoke a language designed to exclude them, they went to what they knew best. They turned to platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, where financial advice - whether certified and accurate or not - is instant, relatable and freely given by so-called "finfluencers". And increasingly, they are turning to AI for the same reason.

Here is the uncomfortable truth the financial services industry needs to sit with: licensed institutions were playing the same language games long before finfluencers arrived. In 2023, a South African bank ran a festive-season campaign with the tagline "ke investment, not a skoloto", positioning a personal lo...