Majid Shabir, CEO of Instinct Studios, argues ditching jargon is an important part of communication, but using technology and creative design to turn data into meaningful information will help support investors in making properly informed financial decisions. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) commented earlier this year it is ready to intervene on the use of jargon and technical terms in communications to consumers which make it difficult for them to understand financial information.
These comments, which came in the regulator’s response to a report from the work and pensions committee investigating the liberalisation of the pension market in April 2015, tally with Instinct’s own research, which found that a third of retail investors felt fund information is usually impenetrable for anyone but an expert investor.
Investment Week’s Lawrence Gosling wrote on this topic again this month, calling for the industry to keep it “short and sweet”. I completely agree. But although words are important, jargon is not the only way we confuse customers in the pension and investment industry.
There are a number of things financial services firms need to consider when thinking about consumer communications.
Provide information, not data
As the FCA made clear in its Smarter Consumer Communications discussion paper last year, information itself does not necessarily help consumers make informed decisions…. <More>
[Source: Investment Week - Majid Shabir - February 10, 2016]
