Fee disclosure model disclosed

A MODEL has been released for the disclosure of fees in the product disclosure statements of investment products.

ASIC executive director financial services regulation Ian Johnston said ASIC believed significant fees should be disclosed in a single table that investors could easily read "at a glance".

"Used consistently by providers, this sort of table will help people understand their fees and help them to compare fees across different products," he said.

ASIC suggests a second table should itemise ongoing fees and be supplemented by a section for other important additional disclosure items such as worked examples, information about adviser remuneration and information about fee changes.

The development of a fee disclosure model follows the release in September 2002 of Professor Ian Ramsay’s report Disclosure of Fees and Charges in Managed Funds that was commissioned by the ASIC.