The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has released a report claiming that consumers have saved billions since banks stepped up their disclosure on deposit rollovers.

A significant drop in automatic rollovers from higher rates to lower rates has been reported, down to 19 per cent in 2011, compared to 47 per cent in 2009. There’s still a way to go according to ASIC, which recommends an expansion on 2010’s changes. The Commission says actual or indicative interest rates applicable to rolled-over term deposits should be received by investors both before and after the term deposit rolls over.

They have also suggested investors may be overwhelmed by the “potentially lengthy and complex” interest rate schedule some banks attach with their pre-maturity letter, saying investors are more likely to read interest rate information in a pre-maturity or post-maturity letter, rather than in a schedule enclosed with the letter.

ASIC flagged some worries over whether post-maturity letters were being sent in time to give investors adequate time to change their term deposits within the grace period, “We found that the post-maturity letter is sent out to investors between one and seven days after maturity of the term deposit,” the report said, “given that ADIs’ grace periods range from five business days to 14 calendar days, we are concerned that investors may not have adequate time to actually use the grace period to change their term deposit.” While the information may be included in pre-maturity letters, ASIC says best practice would be to include it in the post-maturity letter to remind investors that they can make changes.

ASIC says it will continue to work with the Australian Bankers’ Association about the issues discussed in the report. A full copy is available here.