Viewpoint: Financial Communication — v2.0

Guaranteeing that consumers receive accurate and understandable financial information is top of mind — for regulators, advocates and many in the financial services industry. And rightly so.

Certainly, some portion of the Americans who find themselves in dire economic straits today could have avoided their predicament if they had received good financial advice, or had better understood their financial needs and the products that they were relying on to meet those needs. It is appropriate that we now demand greater simplicity and transparency in the descriptions of the fees, terms and conditions of financial products. Our financial lives have simply become more complex, and disclosure is, after all, the centerpiece of U.S. financial services regulation.