Angela Marzolino, vice chairwoman of POLLARA Inc., today delivered the results of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada’s second annual survey of Canadian mutual fund investors, at IFIC’s annual conference in Toronto.

The results speak directly to the proposed changes to Point of Sale disclosure, which has featured prominently in several talks at the conference, including the president’s address and regulators panel on Tuesday.

According Marzolini “the prospectus itself does not play a significant role” in the decision to buy a mutual fund. Investors are getting their information from other sources, principally their advisor. Up marginally this year form last, 85% of mutual fund advisors consult their advisor, and of those 95% were pleased with their advisor’s understanding of their own risk profile.

Many investors are not reading the prospectus because it is “too complicated” says Marzolini. Of those investors who read less than a few pages 44% got information from other sources, and 41% felt there was “too much information” and 31% felt it was “too complicated. Unfortunately, some 39% did not consult any sources outside source.

While this speaks directly for the need for the industry to simplify and deliver cogent information to investors, but nor did the “Fund Facts” model prove popular either as two thirds of those surveyed did not think that reading printed material should be compulsory for purchase.

The best delivery system it would seem was through an advisor, mail was a distant second, and the internet was favoured only by investors who had not used an advisor.

This years results confirm last years findings, hitting on the fields where the industry needs improvement, not to mention says Marzolini, “areas where the industry needs to keep up its strong performance.”

The vast majority of investors consult an advisor when purchasing funds and return to their advisors in the course of the year to review those investments.

There is however room for improvement when it comes to disclosing fees and commissions even if investors were largely pleased with the suitability of funds and risk profile as selected by their mutual fund professional.

POLLARA interviewed 2,508 Canadian mutual fund investors between June 15 and July 11. The interviews were conducted by telephone, and investors came from all across Canada. The resulting numbers have a margin of error of ± 2%