The government has introduced new regulations prescribing short and simple product disclosure statements (PDS) for margin loans, superannuation and simple managed investment schemes.
The new standards complement the government’s Future of Financial Advice reforms that are designed to improve the quality of financial advice provided to Australian investors.
The PDS reform marks the completion of the government’s second Better Regulation Ministerial Partnership, Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner said.
“Cutting down product disclosure documents from over 100 pages to eight pages and making it easier for businesses to use alternative methods such as the internet for disclosing large amounts of detailed product information will also reduce costs for industry,” he said.
“This furthers the government’s ongoing commitment to remove unnecessary or poorly designed regulation to reduce business costs and support Australia’s long-term productivity growth.”
Minister for Superannuation Chris Bowen said providing short and readable PDSs will make it much more likely that investors will read this information and consequently make better investment decisions.
