Spotlight on clear financial documents

Spotlight on clear financial documents

Improving financial literacy and giving the public understandable financial information are hot topics right now. A new Financial Sector category in the annual WriteMark Plain English Awards will shine a spotlight on documents that are clear and reader-friendly.

Financial institutions have the opportunity to show they care about clear, honest communication by entering either the Best Investment Statement award or the Best General Financial Document award in the Plain English Awards.

The Best Investment Statement award, which is sponsored by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund covers prospectuses, investment statements and disclosure statements.

The Best General Financial Document award covers all other financial documents. Judges will be looking for the financial document that best helps New Zealanders to clearly understand the choices, obligations, and risks associated with a financial service.

The two main judges for the category are Susan Kleimann (US), an international expert in clear written communication, and Susan Taylor (NZ), chief executive officer of Financial Services Complaints Limited. They will be joined by industry specialists specific to each of the two awards — Neil Williams and Matt Whineray from New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Anna Griffiths from the Retirement Commission.

Speaking about the Best Investment Statement award, Adrian Orr, chief executive officer of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, says, ‘When we invest on behalf of current and future New Zealanders, we demand high-quality information.

‘There are awards for financial documents such as annual reports. The Best Investment Statement award is unique in that it’s the first award to focus on the decision to invest. The quality of information that is available at the point where you decide to make an investment certainly aids the outcome of the investment.’

Diana Crossan, Retirement Commissioner, said ‘New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to develop a national strategy for financial literacy. Making sure documents are clear, understandable, and easy to compare means people can make informed financial decisions throughout their lives. The new Financial Sector category in the annual Plain English Awards recognises financial institutions that take this responsibility seriously’.

And for non-financial documents, organisations can enter a wide number of categories that recognise the clearest documents and websites, and workplace champions of plain English.

Go to www.plainenglishawards.org.nz for information on the Awards and how to enter.

The general public have a voice too. Anyone can nominate a document or website they think is outstandingly clear for a People’s Choice ‘Best’ Award. And they can nominate outstandingly bad documents and websites for a Brainstrain award!

ENDS

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