March 2016

Advisory for financial 

institutions on preventing 

and responding to elder 

financial exploitation
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Introduction

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or the Bureau) provides broad 

recommendations in this advisory for banks and credit unions to help them prevent and 

respond quickly to elder financial exploitation.1 The CFPB has identified the benchmarks 

provided in this advisory to help financial institutions assess and strengthen their current 

practices for preventing, detecting, and responding to the financial exploitation of older people.2 

Elder financial exploitation has been called the crime of the 21st century. Deploying effective 

interventions has never been more important. Recent studies suggest that financial 

exploitation—the illegal or improper use of an older person’s funds, property or assets— is the 

most common form of elder abuse and yet only a small fraction of incidents are reported. Older 

people are attractive targets because they often have assets and a regular source of income. 

These consumers may be especially vulnerable due to isolation, cognitive decline, physical 

disability, health problems, and/or bereavement. Elder financial exploitation robs victims of 

their resources, dignity and quality of life—and they may never recover from it.

Financial institutions play a vital role in preventing and responding to this type of elder abuse. 

Banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to detect that an elder account holder has been 

targeted or victimized, and to take action. 

 

1 The advisory is not an interpretation of federal consumer financial law or any other statute or rule. It is not designed 

to implement or prescribe any law or Bureau policy. It is not binding on the Bureau or on financial institutions.

2 Accompanying this advisory, the CFPB is releasing Recommendations and Report to Financial Institutions on 

Preventing and Responding to Elder Financial Exploitation (hereinafter Recommendations and Report), which 

provides, among other things, additional background and greater detail on the recommendations contained in this 

advisory.
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Recommendations

The CFPB makes the following recommendations to banks and credit unions:

1. Develop, implement and maintain internal protocols and 

procedures for protecting account holders from elder 

financial exploitation.

The protocols for management and staff should include training requirements, procedures for 

making reports, compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) as implemented by 

Regulation E, means of consent for information-sharing with trusted third parties, and 

procedures for collaborating with key stakeholders. Protocols likely will vary depending on the 

institution’s size and risks.

2. Train management and staff to prevent, detect, and 

respond to elder financial exploitation.

Financial institutions should train employees regularly and frequently, and should tailor 

training to specific staff roles. Key topics for training include:

§ Clear and nuanced definition of elder financial exploitation

§ Warning signs that may signal financial exploitation, including behavioral and 

transactional indicators of risk, and

§ Action steps to prevent exploitation and respond to suspicious events, including 

actionable tips for interacting with account holders, steps for reporting to authorities, 

and communication with trusted third parties.

3. Detect elder financial exploitation by harnessing 

technology. 

The CFPB encourages financial institutions to ensure that their fraud detection systems include 

analyses of the types of products and account activity that may be associated with elder financial 

exploitation risk. Some indicators of elder fraud risk may not match conventionally accepted 

patterns of suspicious activity, but nevertheless may be unusual in light of a particular account 

holder’s regular pattern of behavior. The CFPB encourages financial institutions using predictive 
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analytics to review their filtering criteria against individual account holders’ patterns and 

explore additional risk factors that may be associated with elder financial exploitation.3

4. Report all cases of suspected exploitation to relevant 

federal, state and local authorities.

§ Be aware of state reporting mandates. Financial institutions should be aware of 

state reporting mandates including to whom and when they must report. Reasonable 

suspicion rather than certainty or proof can trigger the duty to report to state Adult 

Protective Services, law enforcement, or both.

§ File Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). The Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN) issued an Advisory in 2011 noting that SARs are a valuable reporting 

avenue for elder financial exploitation cases. FinCEN now provides a designated category 

of suspicious activity, “elder financial exploitation,” on the electronic SAR form. 

Although the electronic SAR form includes a checkbox for elder financial exploitation, 

the narrative remains critical and FinCEN instructs filers to provide clear, complete, and 

concise description of the suspicious activity.

§ Understand that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) is not a barrier to 

reporting suspected elder financial exploitation. Financial institutions should be 

aware of the 2013 Interagency Guidance (the Guidance) from eight federal financial 

regulators that clarifies that reporting financial abuse of older adults to appropriate local, 

state and federal authorities does not, in general, violate the privacy provisions of GLBA. 

The Guidance details the relevant exceptions to the GLBA notice and opt out 

requirements. Several state regulators issued similar guidance.

 

3 The CFPB’s Recommendations and Report provides a sample of these types of account activity.
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§ Understand the roles of first responders. Financial institutions should understand 

how Adult Protective Services (APS), law enforcement and the long-term care

ombudsmen work, and the actions that they will and will not take.

§ Include core components in reports to state and local authorities. A list of 

basic components of a complete report can help financial institutions support the 

allegation and assist responders.4 

§ Expedite documentation requests. When APS, law enforcement and other 

government entities investigate reports of financial exploitation and request 

documentation, providing records in a timely manner is essential. FinCEN Guidance 

clarifies that financial institutions must provide documentation that supports a SAR to 

certain law enforcement or supervisory agencies when requested, and that service of 

legal process on the financial institution is not required in such cases. Financial 

institutions should provide documents to investigatory agencies at no charge.

5. Protect older account holders.

§ Comply with EFTA and Regulation E. Many older consumers experience financial 

exploitation involving unauthorized electronic fund transfers (EFTs). EFTA and 

Regulation E offer important protections to these consumers. Under EFTA and 

Regulation E, financial institutions are obligated to: 

 ̈ Follow rules for extending time limits for consumers for extenuating circumstances 

such as extended travel or hospitalization.

 ̈ Follow rules for accepting notices of unauthorized EFTs. These rules specify 

consumer rights regarding the method of providing notice, who provides notice, and 

the specificity of the notice. 

 

4 A sample list of reporting elements is in the CFPB’s Recommendations and Report.
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 ̈ Confirm that all relevant conditions are met before imposing any liability on a 

consumer for an unauthorized EFT. For example, older consumers with cognitive 

challenges may write PINs on or near debit cards. Under Regulation E, such behavior 

may not be used as a basis for imposing greater liability on a consumer. 

§ Offer account holders the opportunity to consent to disclosure of account 

information to trusted third parties when the financial institution suspects 

financial exploitation. The CFPB recommends that financial institutions establish 

procedures for enabling consumers to provide advance consent to sharing account 

information with a designated trusted third party when the financial institution 

reasonably believes that elder financial exploitation is occurring, has occurred, has been 

attempted or will be attempted. GLBA permits disclosure of nonpublic personal 

information with the consent of the consumer. The CFPB recommends developing a 

plain language consent form as well as procedures for offering consumers the 

opportunity to consent at account opening and periodically thereafter.

§ Offer age-friendly services that can enhance protections against financial 

exploitation. There are certain services that institutions can offer to their general client 

base that may be particularly useful to older customers. The CFPB recommends that 

financial institutions:

 ̈ Provide information about planning for incapacity. Advance planning for the 

possibility of diminished capacity and illness—by, e.g., naming a trusted person to 

serve as an agent under a power of attorney or other fiduciary—increases the odds 

that the person managing finances will act in the best interests of the account holder.

 ̈ Honor powers of attorney. A financial institution’s refusal to honor a valid power of 

attorney can create hardships for account holders who need designated surrogates to 

act on their behalf. Financial institutions should establish procedures to ensure that 

the institution makes prompt decisions on whether to accept the power of attorney, 

that qualified staff make decisions based only on state law and other appropriate 

considerations and that frontline staff recognize red flags for power of attorney abuse.

 ̈ Offer protective opt-in account features. Examples of opt-in features that could 

reduce the risk of elder financial exploitation include cash withdrawal limits, alerts 

for specified account activity and read-only access to accounts for authorized third 

parties. A third-party monitoring feature can enable a designated family member or 
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friend to monitor an account for irregularities without having access to funds or 

transactions.

 ̈ Offer convenience accounts as an alternative to traditional joint accounts. Traditional 

joint accounts, often used to enable a helper to pay bills, pose several risks. To avoid 

risks such as the joint owner withdrawing money for his or her own use, exposing 

account funds to creditors of the joint owner, and subverting an intended estate plan, 

financial institutions should provide information to consumers about these risks. 

When implemented properly, convenience accounts can mitigate these risks. The 

CFPB recommends routinely offering such convenience accounts as an alternative.

6. Collaborate with other stakeholders.

The CFPB recommends that financial institutions collaborate with the array of organizations on 

the local, regional and state level that play a critical role in preventing, detecting, and 

responding to elder financial exploitation. 

§ Work with law enforcement and APS. Financial institutions should work with law 

enforcement and APS to: share policies and procedures for detecting, assessing and 

reporting cases; develop relationships with specific personnel to facilitate timely 

response to reports and have a point of contact when questions arise; and provide expert 

consultation and document review to assist law enforcement and APS with case 

investigations.

§ Participate in and support coordinated efforts to educate older account 

holders, caregivers and the public. Financial institutions should work with an array 

of agencies and service organizations to offer educational programs and distribute 

materials.

§ Participate in and support local or regional multidisciplinary network 

initiatives. Financial institution personnel can be valuable members of or contributors 

to local multidisciplinary networks focusing on elder financial exploitation, some of 

which engage in case review to assist APS and law enforcement. They can assist 

investigators with identifying and analyzing financial documents and can educate 

responders on the nuances of banking policy and procedures. Multidisciplinary team 

members can educate one another and can send representatives to train staff of the other 

stakeholder organizations.
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Conclusion

Financial institutions have a tremendous opportunity to serve older consumers by vigorously 

protecting them from financial exploitation. The CFPB looks forward to continuing to work with 

financial institutions and seeing a broad spectrum of financial institutions implement its 

recommendations so that a greater number of older Americans can have later life economic 

security.