Agencies Issue Statement on Elder Financial Exploitation
The CFPB, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, FinCEN, NCUA, the OCC, and state financial regulators recently issued an interagency statement on elder financial exploitation (the Statement). The agencies noted that the Statement does not replace previous guidance on this topic, impose new regulatory requirements or supervisory expectations, or interpret or establish a new compliance standard.
The Statement covers nine broad topics. Included in these topics are discussions involving the following:
- Suggesting that institutions that these agencies supervise consider enhancing or creating risk-based policies, internal controls, and other procedures and methods to mitigate elder financial exploitation.
- Proposing that institutions provide “clear, comprehensive, and recurring training” to employees on recognizing and responding to exploitation.
- Proposing that institutions use transaction holds and disbursement delays to “prevent consumer losses and respond to various situations” that may involve such exploitation.
- Suggesting that institutions permit account holders to identify one or more trusted contacts that institution employees can contact when they suspect exploitation.
- Suggesting that institutions voluntarily file SARs related to exploitation when they would otherwise not be required to do so.
- Recommending that institutions timely report suspected exploitation to law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, and other entities, as appropriate.
- Proposing that institutions expedite providing financial records to appropriate authorities (consistent with legal requirements) when exploitation is involved.
- Recommending that institutions engage with elder fraud prevention and response networks.
- Suggesting that institutions provide timely information to account holders about trending scams and how to avoid them.
The Statement includes links to a number of resources from both federal and state agencies related to this topic.
