Consumers buried under "sludge" of fineprint with disclosure no longer the "silver bullet", ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester warns

Banks and financial services companies that bury consumers in a complex "sludge" of disclosure and fine print face a crackdown by the corporate regulator. 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned that consumers are exposed to greater harm with some companies using the cover of disclosure to deliberately bamboozle with a deluge of legalese that pushes some into inappropriate financial products. 

ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester told the ABC's "AM" program that disclosure could no longer be relied upon as "the silver bullet" to force companies to keep consumers fully informed and better protected.