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October 12, 2022 at 03:45 PM
What You Need to Know
- The SEC still requires individual investors to receive financial documents through the mail.
- E-delivery is imperative to ensure individual investors receive their required disclosures in a timely manner.
- By promoting more efficient paper usage, e-delivery reduces major contributors to climate change.
The time has come — and is arguably overdue — to implement electronic delivery, also known as e-delivery, as the primary means for delivering investor communications while preserving the power to choose paper delivery if preferred.
We live in a world where technology is literally at our fingertips, yet the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission still requires individual investors to receive financial documents such as prospectuses, account statements, trade confirmations, investment advisor brochures, in addition to other documents, through the mail.
E-delivery provides access through digital or electronic methods to a client’s account information and required disclosure documents. For example, an individual investor receives an email or text alert from their brokerage firm notifying them that their documents are available on the firm’s secure website or mobile app with a link or instructions to log in to their password-protected account to view the documents.
Keeping Up With Consumer Expectations
According to a recent survey, individual investors of all ages prefer accessing their financial documents online versus in the mail. In fact, a large majority of clients are already comfortably using e-delivery and recognize its many benefits. Currently, 47% of these clients opt to receive documents through email, 46% through their account provider’s website, and 21% through a financial institution’s mobile app, often utilizing multiple e-delivery channels to access the information.
A common misconception is that e-delivery creates an extra hurdle for clients over age 55. This idea is simply false; a large majority of seniors are already using it. Comfort and satisfaction with e-delivery as the default is high regardless of age, education level, income level, and amount of assets held. On top of that, nearly all clients — 94% — see at least some benefit of e-delivery over mail delivery.
