The public has turned its nose up at graphical representations of risk on the MySuper product dashboard and asked the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) to make it simpler.
Qualitative consumer market research in September has gauged reactions to the information funds must provide on MySuper products and expectations around disclosure.
Speaking at the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees governance symposium, ASIC senior manager Alex Purvis said people were positive about being better informed, but their comprehension had its limits.
“Consumers overwhelmingly said what they wanted was disclosure that had an impact, that was simple and enabled them to do a quick assessment of the product.
“The minute we used different styles in the graph, levels of confusion went up dramatically. Similarly, the minute we used a chart, the level of confusion went up too.”
Feedback suggested that the most complicated data should not appear on the first page accessed by the public, but should be provided as a link for further information for those that wanted more detail.
Other feedback from the survey was that members wanted tailored information, particularly in relation to fees and that some wanted the information in print too.
ASIC will report these findings to the Treasury.
At the conference, Purvis also told trustees not to fear the use of breach notifications in situations in which a fund was struggling to be fully compliant with the product dashboard.
“If you are wondering about reporting to ASIC, err on the side of caution and put in a breach notification. If you are ready to put up the product dashboard and then you realise something is wrong and it is going to be a week late, that is the kind of thing you tell us in advance.
“There is concern out there that a breach notification is some sort of mark against your name. In actual fact, it sometimes works in the other direction. You need to tell us about significant or likely breaches within 10 days.”
