New guidance on digital disclosures for financial services consumers

New reforms and a new Regulatory Guide 221 "Facilitating digital financial services disclosure", released by ASIC on Tuesday, aim to make it easier for financial services providers to communicate information to clients digitally.

Prior to these reforms, while many disclosure documents could be provided digitally, the agreement of the client was often required.

As a result of the reforms:

• the default delivery method for product disclosure statements, financial services guides and statements of advice (amongst other documents) can be through digital means; and
• the form and content requirements for these documents have been altered to facilitate the digital delivery of innovative disclosures.