BT Investment Management (BTIM) and Aon Master Trust have unveiled condensed product disclosure statements (PDS) a year ahead of the government’s deadline.
BTIM said it has taken up the new format across its wholesale range of funds, and lowered its investment minimum from $50,000 to $25,000.
“We are pleased to be one of the first investment managers to adopt the new shorter PDS regime which aims to simplify and standardise the disclosure in PDSs,” BTIM chief operating officer Phil Stockwell said.
Aon Master Trust, which has about $2 billion under management, also said it has switched to shorter documents.
“This is just one of a number of initiatives we are launching to benefit our members and make super easier for them,” Aon Hewitt head of retirement products Peter Lewis said.
The trust has also unveiled an insurance program that allows members to increase their death and total and permanent disablement insurance cover without having to provide health evidence.
Providers can start using eight-page PDS although the government’s deadline for switching away from long form statements is still a year away.
The move aims to cut existing documentation from more than 100 pages to eight, and make the content more user-friendly, and is part of Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten’s Future of Financial Advice reforms.
