Bankers fight financial exploitation of the elderly

Financial exploitation of the elderly is the most common type of elder abuse.  According to Business Wire, the California Bankers Association is sponsoring state legislation aimed at the problem:

The banking industry is sponsoring AB 1664 (Gordon), a measure thatwould make California the first state in the Union to require its bankemployees to be trained to identify, report and prevent elder financialabuse. Competing bills would require banks and their employees tobecome “mandated reporters” of suspected cases of elder financial abuse- and would institute both criminal and civil penalties for failure toreport.

“Banks will continue to play an integral role in theidentification and prevention of elder financial abuse,” said Lamkin.”But the idea of forcing banks and bank tellers to become ‘mandatingreporters’ does nothing to actually help consumers and keep theirassets safe. To end financial abuse we have to keep money out of thehands of fraudsters, not create reports after-the-fact.”

Inaddition to its legislative proposal, CBA is currently offeringtraining materials, including a written manual and training video,free-of-charge on its Web site (www.calbankers.com).Financial institutions and consumers alike are encouraged to accessthese materials to learn more about spotting possible elder financialabuse schemes and what can be done to help senior Californians avoidbecoming victims of this crime.

From more information on financial abuse of the elderly, see

• The National Elder Law Network, Elder Abuse – Financial Exploitation by a Conservator
• The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, Financial Abuse