Despite the extreme market turmoil of recent weeks, of the ten factsheets reviewed on the providers’ websites on 10 September 2015, eight included performance data to 31 July 2015.

Only the Standard Life Investments UK Equity Growth fund factsheet included data to 31 August 2015, while the Fidelity website included online performance data for the UK Smaller Companies fund updated to 9 September 2015 rather than a static factsheet.

The research was carried out by Instinct Studios, a fintech company “creating smarter customer experiences to simplify the world of financial services”.

In a separate study, the firm found that only 22% of retail investors read the fund information they receive in detail and just under a quarter (24%) fully understand the fund information that’s presented to them.

The same research asked 100 advisers which words best describe the fund information they receive – 17% said ‘out of date’, 21% selected ‘complex’ and 14% picked ‘confusing’.

Jeremy Mugridge, marketing director at Instinct, said: “As we saw in August this year, a lot can change in investment markets over the course of a few weeks. We’re all used to accessing real-time digital information from other industries anytime, anywhere, so it is surprising that most investment providers continue to offer static, out of date fund data. It’s high time that financial services embraced the benefits of offering up to date, user friendly digital information before the Regulator and consumers lose patience and force their hand.

“Our research has found that many retail investors feel that the fund information supplied by providers can be unappealing and hard to understand – which is to be expected when even some professional advisers find it confusing. By offering engaging and easy to understand digital data, providers will not only offer a better customer experience but also stay on the right side of the Regulator by keeping in line with its smarter client communications ambitions.”

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