CFPB Releases Guidance on Financial Exploitation of Older Americans

CFPB FinCEN Electronic Fund Transfer Elder Financial Exploitation

On March 23, the CFPB simultaneously issued a report and an advisory providing financial institutions with information on the financial exploitation of older Americans and recommendations on how to prevent and respond to such exploitation. The report combines the CFPB’s “expertise regarding elder financial exploitation” with knowledge gained from interviews conducted between May 2014 to March 2016 with various stakeholders, including, but not limited to, representatives of individual banks and credit unions of various sizes, trade associations, technology vendors, and law enforcement. According to the CFPB, the release of recommendations outlined in the report and advisory mark the “first time a federal regulator has provided an extensive set of voluntary best practices to help banks and credit unions fight [financial exploitation of older Americans].” The CFPB recommended that financial institutions (i) establish protocols for ensuring staff compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act; (ii) train staff to detect the warning signs of financial exploitation and respond appropriately to suspicious events; (iii) maintain fraud detection systems that provide analyses of the types of products and account activity associated with elder financial exploitation; (iv) report cases of suspected exploitation, which includes filing Suspicious Activity Reports with FinCEN when necessary; and (v) collaborate with stakeholders, including law enforcement, at the local, regional, and state level.