Why investment disclosures fail investors—and how AI could change that

Clearer Fund Disclosures, Without Compromising Trust

Our research suggests it is possible to make complex fund disclosure more understandable without losing trust and professionalism. The answer is AI-assisted plain-language redrafting.

Investment disclosures are designed to help consumers understand a product’s objectives, risks and key features before making a decision. In practice, however, many disclosures remain difficult to navigate, relying on dense language, technical terminology and complex sentence structures. This can make important information less accessible to the people they are intended to serve.

As the UK’s Consumer Composite Investments (CCI) regime places increasing emphasis on investor understanding and effective communications, firms face a practical challenge. How can they make product summaries clearer while preserving the accuracy, completeness and regulatory intent of the original information?

We have developed and tested an AI-assisted approach designed to help address that challenge.

Testing whether clearer language improves understanding

As part of a broader disclosure innovation initiative, we have developed an innovative AI tooling project that assesses the linguistic complexity of investment disclosures and produces a plain-language redraft. The tooling was designed to identify unnecessarily complex wording, long sentence structures and unexplained technical concepts, then generate a more accessible version of the content.

The objective was not to remove important product information or replace expert oversight. Broadridge applied guardrails to preserve the key meaning, risks and regulatory intent of the source disclosure. The AI-assisted output introduced clearer explanations of technical concepts, improved structure and readability, and retained the core investment information for review.

Consumer testing was then conducted comparing an original fund Investment Objective and Investment Policy information with an AI-simplified plain-language version of the same content. Respondents were assigned to read one version before answering questions about comprehension, clarity, confidence, trust, professionalism and their ability to apply the information to basic investor scenarios.

Why this matters for CCI Product Summaries

The direction of travel for retail investor communications is clear: disclosures must do more than contain the right information. They must communicate that information in a way consumers can understand and use.

For firms preparing for CCI Product Summary Documents (PSD), this creates a significant operational and governance challenge. Product information must remain accurate, balanced and consistent with legal and regulatory requirements, while also becoming more accessible to a broad range of consumers with differing levels of financial knowledge and experience.

AI should support expert review, not replace it

The research does not suggest that AI-generated disclosure text should be used without robust controls. Investment disclosures remain subject to product, legal, compliance and regulatory review. Any AI-assisted redraft must be assessed to ensure that it preserves material information, does not alter the meaning of risks or product features, and remains appropriate for the relevant regulatory framework.

The opportunity is to use AI as a controlled drafting and quality-assurance capability, thus helping expert teams identify complexity, develop clearer alternatives,and focus review efforts where it matters most.

Turning disclosure change into a strategic advantage

As firms prepare for the next generation of retail disclosure, the ability to improve clarity without compromising accuracy is becoming increasingly important. Consumer understanding is no longer a secondary consideration. It is central to effective product communication.

Broadridge’s research provides early evidence that a controlled AI-assisted approach can support that goal. For firms working toward CCI readiness, this creates an opportunity not only to improve compliance processes, but also to strengthen the quality and usability of product communications more broadly.