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ASFA urges shorter PDSs
Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia(ASFA) has flagged that it will be undertaking research on the effectiveness of Product Disclosure Statements (PDSs) and liaising with both the Australian Securities and InvestmentsCommission and Federal Treasury on the issue.
In a submission to the Treasury, ASFA said the length of PDSs remained an issue and that short-form statements had not been widely embraced because of the requirement to develop and maintain two documents.
“Given the current legislative requirements, PDSs have become long and complex documents,” the submission said. “This is compounded by the numerous policies and statements made by the regulator regarding additional expectations as well as ongoing enforcement activities focused on ‘inadequate disclosure’.”
ASFA said that, as a result, lengthy and complex PDSs had become difficult for members to comprehend.
The ASFA submission went on to welcome a proposal that would introduce the ability for PDSs to refer to other documents available from a website.
It said the Internet represented a cost-effective mechanism for providing additional information to members.
“However, there remains variations between the membership of different superannuation funds and their accessibility to the Internet,” the submission said. “If the incorporated material were available through the fund’s website, then the fund should also be prepared to provide hard copies of incorporated material upon request.”
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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