On December 4, 2024, five federal financial regulatory agencies, FinCEN, and state financial regulators issued a statement to provide supervised institutions with examples of risk management and other practices that may be effective in combatting elder financial exploitation. The statement is intended to raise awareness and provide strategies to supervised institutions and does not replace previous guidance nor impose new regulatory requirements on this subject issued by any of the agencies.
Elder financial exploitation is the illegal use of an older adult’s funds or other resources for the benefit of an unauthorized recipient. A FinCEN financial trend analysis of BSA reports from 2022 to 2023 found that about $27 billion in reported suspicious activity was linked to elder financial exploitation.
Banks, credit unions, and other regulated institutions play a crucial role in preventing elder financial exploitation and assisting customers who are victims of these crimes. The agencies’ statement provides examples of risk management and other practices that supervised institutions may use to help identify, prevent, and respond to elder financial exploitation, including but not limited to:
Developing effective governance and oversight, including policies and practices to protect account holders and the institution;
Training employees on recognizing and responding to elder financial exploitation;
Using transaction holds and disbursement delays, as appropriate, and consistent with applicable law;
Establishing a trusted contact designation process for account holders;
Filing suspicious activity reports to FinCEN in a timely manner;
Reporting suspected elder financial exploitation to law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, and other appropriate entities;
Providing financial records to appropriate authorities where consistent with applicable law;
Engaging with elder fraud prevention and response networks; and
Increasing awareness through consumer outreach
The OCC news release can be found here.
The full Interagency Statement can be found here.