ASIC helps simplify disclosure for deposit products

ASIC has announced new class order relief which simplifies certain disclosure requirements for issuers of deposit products. Detailed in Class Order [CO 06/476] Variation of Class Orders [CO 05/681] and [CO 05/683] Dollar disclosure: further transitional relief, the relief grants: • permanent unconditional relief to issuers of deposit products from the requirement to include termination values in periodic statements; •permanent conditional relief to issuers of deposit products from the requirement to disclose interest rates in Product Disclosure Statements (PDSs); and • extension of transitional relief to issuers of deposit products from the dollar disclosure requirements from July 1 2006 to March 31 2007. ASIC director of policy and research, Mark Adams, said: “The relief recognises that deposit products are relatively simple and understood and will mean issuers will not need to implement major system changes where adequate disclosure practices already exist. Consumers will, however, still receive important information in their periodic statements, such as the closing balance of their deposit product, and interest rates will be disclosed to the consumer before the acquisition of the deposit product.”