Meta ads for mutual fund distributors: individual vs company ARN, verification and AMFI's rules

Facebook and Instagram are where many mutual fund distributors find their first clients, and where many have had ads rejected. Since 2025, Meta has needed proof of registration before it shows investment ads to people in India, and AMFI has tightened what distributors can post. This guide covers both, and what changes if you're an individual distributor or a company or LLP.

Meta's verification rule

In June 2025, Meta announced that every advertiser running securities and investment ads aimed at people in India must verify:

• the person or organisation that benefits from the ad;
• who pays for it.

Enforcement started as early as 28 July 2025, depending on when each advertiser became eligible. The verified names, and the registration number where there is one, appear as a disclaimer on the ad. They're also kept in Meta's Ad Library for up to seven years.

At first, verification relied on SEBI registration. That left out mutual fund distributors, who are registered with AMFI. In June 2026, Meta began accepting an AMFI ARN too.

How to verify with your ARN

1. Open Meta Business Suite and go to Authorizations and Verifications.
2. Enter your registered name, your ARN, and the email address and phone number registered with AMFI.
3. Meta sends a one-time code to that email or phone. Enter it to finish.
4. In Ads Manager, set the verified beneficiary and payer as your default for ads delivered to India.

If you hold both a SEBI registration and an ARN, for example as a SEBI-registered adviser and an MFD, you can choose which one to show on your ads, but only one at a time.

If you don't verify, your ads may carry a notice saying you aren't registered with SEBI or AMFI. That's the opposite of the trust you're trying to build.

Individual or company: what changes

AMFI issues ARNs to individuals and to non-individual distributors such as companies, LLPs and partnership firms. Meta sends its one-time code to the email or phone on your registration, so our rule of thumb is: the name on the ad should be the name on the ARN. The points below are our practical advice, not Meta or AMFI rules.

If you're an individual distributor:

• You verify as yourself, with the email and phone registered against your personal ARN.
• Your ads show your registered name and ARN.
• If your Page uses a brand name rather than your own, your posts and profile must still carry your registered name and ARN, so investors can match the two.
• If you work with an assistant or an agency, give them access to your ad account through Business Manager. Don't hand over your login.

If you're a company or LLP distributor:

• The ARN belongs to the entity, so you verify with the entity's registered name and the contact details registered for that ARN.
• Your ads show the entity's name.
• Your employees usually hold EUINs linked to the firm's ARN, not ARNs of their own. Run ads in the firm's name, not an employee's, so the ad matches the verified registration.
• If employees post about mutual funds from their own profiles, check with AMFI how the disclosure rules apply to them.
• Keep the business account owned by the company, with at least two admins, so access doesn't leave when a person does.

In both cases, update your details with AMFI before you verify with Meta. If the email or phone on your ARN record is old, the one-time code goes nowhere.

AMFI's social media rules from 1 May 2026

Verification gets your ads delivered. AMFI's rules decide what they can say. From 1 May 2026, these apply to every post, ad and profile.

On every communication:

• your registered name and ARN;
• the tagline "AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor" (or "SIF Distributor" for SIFs);
• the required risk disclosures;
• credit for any data, news or report you use;
• with numerical illustrations, the disclaimer: "Past performance may or may not be sustained in the future and is not a guarantee of future returns."

On your profile:

• If you work with several fund houses, list each one's name and SEBI registration number on the profile's home page, near the handle name. The same applies to SIFs, PMS and AIFs you distribute.
• Short of space, you can put the list on one web page and link to it from the profile.
• A post or video about one fund house should name that fund house at the start.

What you can post:

• general investor education: what mutual funds are, compounding, SIPs, retirement planning;
• illustrative numbers that follow AMFI's guidelines and don't point to a particular scheme;
• material supplied by AMCs and AMFI.

What you can't post:

• claims about a scheme's returns or performance;
• numbers that highlight a particular scheme;
• anything that reads as a guaranteed return;
• unsolicited recommendations;
• forwarded content you haven't checked.

Approvals: content shared on social media and websites should be vetted and approved. Approving every post isn't practical, so the safest route is to build ads from AMC-supplied material, and keep your own content to general education.

Your handles on AMFI's records

SEBI asked AMFI to keep a record of every distributor's official channels, so investors can tell a real MFD from an impersonator. AMFI asked distributors to submit, through the ARN portal:

• their social media handles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Telegram, WhatsApp, Threads);
• app links, websites and email domains.

AMFI's final reminder set 30 September 2026 as the date; in October it was still urging distributors to file, so check AMFI's portal if you haven't. Distributors with no social media must still select "Not Applicable". The details appear on AMFI's "Locate a MF Distributor" page.

If you start a new Page or Instagram account for ads, add it to your AMFI record. An ad from a handle AMFI doesn't know about looks exactly like the fraud this system is meant to catch.

Planning Google Ads as well? AMFI isn't on Google's list of accepted regulators, so read our guide to G2RS and Google's Financial Services Verification before you start. For how we find HNI and NRI investors for distributors, see wealth and MFD lead generation.

A short checklist before your next campaign

• ARN active, and the email and phone on your AMFI record current.
• Meta verification done with the same details; beneficiary and payer set for India.
• The ad's Page and Instagram handle listed on AMFI's portal.
• Profile showing your registered name, ARN, tagline and fund houses.
• Ad copy with no scheme returns, no guarantees, and the right disclaimers.
• Creative taken from AMC material, or kept to general education.