The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) agrees that documents planners must give to clients can be too long and contain “horrendous” detail.

At a planners’ convention in India last week, ASIC Executive Director Financial Services Regulation Ian Johnston said disclosure provisions are among aspects of the legislation that needed to be refined.

He suggested some of the fault lies with lawyers who interpret provisions of the law too conservatively, leaving consumers to deal with advice that is too complex.

“What we need to do is a bit of a stocktake at ASIC and identify things that are not working, and speak to Treasury about possible policy and legislative changes,” he said.

Mr Johnston made similar comments at the National Insurance Brokers Association Convention two weeks ago. He said the product disclosure statements and statements of advice were originally meant to be summary documents, but they have grown out of proportion.

“I’m not really sure how this came about, but I suspect a lot of the advice that’s around suggests it’s a legal document, and therefore people are exposed to liability, and they’re trying to cover themselves with more words.”