Gender-related variability in information processing of disclosure documents

Disclosure is used worldwide as a tool to increase transparency and help investors to make their decisions, thus partially overcoming asymmetric information in financial markets. This research seeks to explore gender–related variability in visual attention allocation to the Key Investor Information Document, and in the evaluation of product financial attractiveness. We exploited the eye–tracking methodology to collect neural data, responding to the call for considering new data sources. The analysis shows that men tend to dedicate more attention to the sections Objectives and Past performance while women spend more time to scan the sections Risk–reward profile and Costs and charges; when evaluating product financial attractiveness, women, with respect to men, tend to evaluate more often products as poorly financially attractive. Results reveal the existence of gender–related variability in the visual search strategy for relevant information, which, in turn, can impact on the phase of product evaluation. These findings highlight the professional responsibility of regulators and supervisors to monitor sellers’ and marketers’ behaviours when they interact with consumers. Moreover, this study could provide support to develop financial disclosure documents considering individual differences and ensuring that adequate attention is allocated by investors to all financial information sources, thus raising the level of investor protection. Eventually, the study stimulates innovations to be embedded in the world–wide ongoing regulatory developments that aim at increasing transparency requirements

Anchoring effect in visual information processing during financial decisions: an eye-tracking study

When reading a financial disclosure document, subjects are faced with multiple information cues and might simplify decisional complexity by relying on heuristics. This study explores whether, in an attempt to filter information from the Payment Account Fees Information Document (FID), subjects anchor their evaluation to a specific item, leading to biased financial choices. By detecting the visual search strategy in 70 subjects through eye tracking, we observed that people exhibited systematic visual anchoring to the top of the document, which corresponds to the Liquidity section that displays the Annual Fee. Moreover, data revealed that subjects sometimes fail to recognize the most advantageous products. This mainly occurs when the Annual Fee is high, even if the other charges compensate for that amount, clarifying the link between visual search strategy and financial decisions. Data also showed the role of financial literacy in modulating attention, as poorly financially literate subjects are more prone to anchoring bias. The findings contribute to the neuroeconomics literature on anchoring effect and highlight practical implications for financial regulators and managers involved in the ergonomics of documents