Accessibility in digital experiences is no longer a “nice-to-have”- it’s becoming a necessity. With regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming into effect on 28 June 2025, organisations serving EU consumers must ensure their digital products and services are accessible. This regulation aims to protect the rights of people with disabilities, providing equal access to products and services. Similarly, in the UK, Consumer Duty reinforces this obligation by requiring organisations to deliver good outcomes for vulnerable customers-a group that explicitly includes those with disabilities. 
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also mandates digital accessibility standards for public-facing services, including financial platforms. For global organisations, this underscores the need to meet accessibility expectations across multiple jurisdictions—not just within the EU.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) ensures digital and reporting accessibility for end consumers (B2C) across the EU as well as those serving the EU market. As a result, investment managers and financial institutions will soon be required to ensure their client portals, fund centres, and investor experiences are accessible to all users. If your organisation has built its own investor-facing tools, retrofitting them for accessibility compliance in inevitable.
The true impact of accessibility isn’t just on platforms like Kurtosys. It’s on the end investors who rely on these fund centres to make informed decisions. An inaccessible experience can exclude entire groups of users, including those with visual impairments, motor disabilities, or cognitive challenges. Ensuring accessibility isn’t just about compliance, it’s about empowering every investor to access critical financial information with ease.
Kurtosys helps fund managers achieve this by providing built-in accessibility features that ensure financial data, fund insights, and investor tools are fully usable for all clients. Instead of worrying about technical compliance, investment managers can focus on delivering clear, transparent and inclusive financial experiences. We’ve spent the last two years investing 30-40% of our engineering time into making our platform fully compliant with accessibility standards, specifically WCAG 2.1 and now WCAG 2.2. It’s a massive task – one that will become more burdensome if left unaddressed. To help fund managers and financial institutions meet these new demands, we’ve compiled this guide to ensuring accessibility in fund centres and other complex web experiences.
What is accessibility and WCAG 2.2
Web accessibility ensures that digital content is inclusive, allowing users with disabilities-such as visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments-to navigate and interact with web-based experiences. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), set the global standard for accessible digital experiences.
The latest version, WCAG 2.2, was officially published in October 2023. It builds upon WCAG 2.1 and introduces improvements for users with cognitive and mobility impairments. Key updates include better keyboard navigation, clearer focus indicators, and larger clickable areas to improve usability for all.
WCAG 2.2 continues the conformance levels:
- Level A – Basic accessibility requirements
- Level AA – The industry standard for usability and compliance
- Level AAA – The highest level of accessibility, often exceeding legal requirements
For investment fund centres, which contain detailed financial data and interactive tools, achieving WCAG 2.2 AA compliance is critical to ensure that all investors, regardless of ability, can access and interpret financial information without barriers. By leveraging Kurtosys’ accessibility-focused tools, investment managers can deliver optimised user experiences without having to manually overhaul their platforms.
Making fund centres and complex web experiences accessible
Fund centres present a unique challenge due to their data-heavy nature often featuring dynamic content such as charts, fund performance data, and various navigational elements to present financial data interactively and intuitively. Making them accessible benefits not just compliance efforts but also the investors who depend on them. Key improvements include:
- Keyboard-friendly navigation: Investors who rely on keyboard navigation, including those with motor impairments, should be able to seamlessly explore fund data, filter results, and make comparisons. Kurtosys’ platform is designed with this in mind, ensuring full keyboard accessibility.
- Screen reader compatibility: A significant portion of investors may be visually impaired. Ensuring proper heading structures, alternative text for charts, and clear labels means these users can access the same insights as everyone else. Kurtosys’ fund centres are built to support these needs out-of-the-box.
- Clear and consistent layouts: Cognitive disabilities or unfamiliarity with digital tools can make navigating fund centres overwhelming. A predictable, intuitive layout improves investor confidence and reduces frustration. With Kurtosys, investment manager can ensure a structured, user-friendly experience.
- High contrast design: Poor contrast can make financial data unreadable. Optimising colour ensures that all investors can distinguish key figures, trends, and performance metrics at a glance. Our platform meets WCAG contrast requirements by default.
- Zoom and text resizing: Many investors, particularly those with age-related vision impairment, need the ability to increase text size without breaking the page layout or losing functionality. Kurtosys’ responsive design ensures content remains accessible at any zoom level.
By ensuring these accessibility best practices, investment managers are not just meeting legal requirements but actively improving investor engagement, transparency, and trust – all while leveraging Kurtosys’ built-in solutions instead of starting from scratch.
The challenge of making charts and interactive elements accessible
Investment fund centres rely on dynamic content like charts and pop-ups, which can be difficult to make accessible. However, these are essential tools for investors. Here’s how Kurtoys ensures accessibility without requiring manual intervention from fund managers.
Making line charts accessible
Line charts are vital for showing fund performance, but they can be hard to interpret for users relying on screen readers. With Kurtosys’ accessibility features:
- Alternative text summaries describe key trends automatically.
- Data points can be accessed via keyboard navigation, ensuring all investors can interact with visualised data.
- A data table alternative is provided, allowing users to view performance data in a structured, text-based format.
For a deeper dive into making line charts accessible, check out this blog:
Making your fund performance line charts accessible to everyone
Handling popovers and modals
Many fund centres use pop-up windows to display extra information. However, these can be difficult to navigate with assistive technologies Kurtosys eliminates this problem by ensuring:
- Keyboard-friendly pop-ups that can be opened and closed without a mouse
- Focus management, preventing users from getting “trapped” inside a pop-up
- Screen reader compatibility, allowing pop-ups to be interpreted correctly
By using Kurtosys’ accessibility-focused tools, fund managers can be confident that all investors, including those using assistive technologies, have equal access to financial insights-without the need for complex, manual adjustments.
Accessibility is the future – start preparing now
Just as mobile-friendly websites became an industry standard, accessibility is now essential for digital success. The EU Accessibility Act (EAA) is bringing stricter regulations, and investment managers need to prepare. WCAG 2.2 AA compliance will soon be a requirement, not just a recommendation.
More importantly, accessibility isn’t just about compliance-it’s about empowering every investor with the same access to financial insights. Investment decisions should never be limited by lack of accessibility.
By leveraging Kurtosys’ platform, fund managers can eliminate the burden of accessibility retrofits and deliver best-in-class experiences for all investors, regardless of ability.
If the idea of retrofitting your site for compliance seems daunting, we can help. Let’s make investor experiences inclusive. Get in touch with us today.
