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Stock pick, anyone? Experts call on OJK, IDX to bolster education for new investors
Industry professionals and analysts have raised a flag on the need to step up financial literacy to protect new retail investors from potential losses and inadvertently falling foul of investment laws.
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A woman walks past a large stock ticker display on March 9, 2020 at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in Jakarta. (AFP/Adek Berry)
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apital market experts have called on the country’s financial authorities to ramp up investor education efforts to protect non-professional individual investors entering the securities market with hopes of making a quick buck.
Entertainment celebrities Raffi Ahmad and Ari Lasso recently promoted certain stocks on their social media accounts, saying they had made profits from the stocks and encouraging their followers to follow suit.
However, new retail investors jumping in headfirst might find themselves caught on the wrong end of a trade, with analysts and traders pointing out that the “celebrity-promoted” stocks were questionable investment options.
Among this newly emerging group of “stock influencers” are the President’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, and Islamic preacher Yusuf Mansur, who has recently gained popularity. The two are known for posting their stock picks and advice, respectively dubbed “Sangmology” and “Mansurmology”, on their social media accounts.
Meanwhile, an Instagram account offering stock market education has posted screen grabs of several users who said they had pawned their physical assets or borrowed funds through peer-to-peer lending platforms to buy stocks as a “get rich quick” strategy.
“Authorities should remind these so-called stock influencers to disclose their ownership of the shares they are promoting” so new investors could determine whether their advice represented a conflict of interest, University of Indonesia equities expert Budi Frensidy told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 22. “If they do have a conflict of interest, then it is likely market manipulation.”
