Canada Releases Point-of-Sale Disclosure Rules

Canada’s Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators released proposed point-of-sale disclosure rules for mutual funds that would highlight a fund’s performance, risk and cost, Investment Executive reports.

“Many investors have trouble finding and understanding the information they need because it is buried in long and complex documents,” the forum said. “Investors also find it difficult to compare information about different funds.”

In addition, investors often do not receive prospectuses until after they have purchased a fund. Under the proposed rules, they will be required to equip investors with a prospectus and a two-page disclosure document at the time of a sale.

“We want investors to have a basic and correct understanding of the potential benefits, risks and costs of investing in a fund and to be able to meaningfully compare one fund to another,” the forum said. “To do this, we need to make sure the information is presented so that most investors will choose to read it. It must be short, informative, friendly and in plain language.”

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