July 18, 2025

Vol. XLII, No. 7

Elder Financial Exploitation - Interagency Statement

I. Introduction
​​The federal banking agencies have issued an Interagency Statement to provide institutions supervised by the agencies examples of risk management and other practices that can be effective in identifying, preventing and responding to elder financial exploitation.

The statement does not replace previous guidance on this subject issued by any of the agencies, does not interpret or establish a compliance standard, and does not impose new regulatory requirements or establish new supervisory expectations. It is intended to raise awareness and provide strategies to supervised institutions for combating elder financial exploitation, consistent with applicable legal requirements.

II. Background
Elder financial exploitation is the illegal use of an older adult's funds or other resources for the benefit of an unauthorized recipient. In addition to financial losses, elder financial exploitation can also result in increased reputational, operational, compliance and other risks for supervised institutions. In the statement, the agencies provide examples of risk management and other practices that supervised institutions could consider adopting.

III. Governance and Oversight
A number of laws and regulations related to consumer protection and safety and soundness may be applicable to instances of elder financial exploitation. Consistent with such laws and regulations, a supervised institution's oversight strategies may include policies and practices to better protect account holders and the supervised institution from the impacts of elder financial exploitation.

Supervised institutions may consider enhancing or creating risk-based policies, internal controls, employee codes of conduct, ongoing transaction monitoring practices, and complaint processes to identify, measure, control, and mitigate elder financial exploitation, provided such policies do not result in age discrimination that is impermissible under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).

Effective actions aimed at guarding against ​elder financial exploitation include open lines of communication among supervised institutions' departments responsible for researching and responding to unusual account activity, for example, across functions such as BSA compliance, fraud prevention, and consumer protection, including fair lending. Compliance with applicable privacy or other legal requirements is necessary to ensure that the information of account holders remains confidential and secure.

IV. Employee Training
Supervised institutions may find it beneficial to provide clear, comprehensive, and recurring training for their employees on recognizing and responding to elder financial exploitation. Welltrained employees can increase a supervised institution’s ability to detect and report elder financial exploitation.

Employee training may include identifying red flags for different types of financial exploitation, providing proactive approaches to detecting and preventing elder financial exploitation, and detailing actions for employees to take when they have concerns. Customer facing employees may be trained to identify transactional and behavioral red flags when conducting transactions for older adults, including via powers of attorney or other agents. Employees may also benefit from detailed escalation processes and written procedures that promote timely action for events they are most likely to encounter in their roles.

​Federal law provides that a financial institution and certain employees are not liable in any civil or administrative proceeding for disclosing suspected elder financial exploitation to covered agencies if the financial institution has timely trained its employees on identifying elder financial exploitation.

V. Using Transaction Holds and Disbursement Delays
Supervised institutions have used transaction holds and disbursement delays to prevent consumer losses and respond to various situations that may involve elder financial exploitation. These practices should be used appropriately and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. (See, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 8-2901-2903)

​Supervised institutions may benefit from establishing and implementing policies and procedures based on applicable laws and regulations. It may be helpful for supervised institutions to consider various factors, such as the account holder’s explanation of the purpose of the transaction, the requirements to provide disclosures, and the prohibitions against unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. Supervised institutions may also consider procedures for older adult account holders and their designated representatives to establish the legitimacy of a potentially suspicious transaction.

VI. Using Trusted Contacts
Supervised institutions may establish policies and procedures that enable account holders to designate one or more trusted contacts that employees can contact when elder financial exploitation is suspected. For example, an account holder might identify one or more family members, attorneys, accountants, or other trusted individuals and authorize the supervised institution to contact them if the supervised institution cannot reach the account holder or suspects that the account holder may be at risk of financial exploitation. Unless separately authorized by the account holder, a third-party trusted contact typically would not have authority to view account information or execute transactions.

If a supervised institution establishes a trusted contact designation process for account holders, it may be beneficial to develop clear and effective procedures for when and how to disclose to the account holder and trusted contact that one or more transactions have indicated that elder financial exploitation may be occurring. Any disclosures to account holders or trusted contacts must comply with applicable privacy laws and legal prohibitions, including the confidential nature of SARs.

VII. Filing SARs Involving Suspected Elder Financial Exploitation
In certain circumstances, financial institutions are required under FinCEN’s and the federal banking agencies’ laws and regulations to file SARs related to suspicious activity and suspected violations of law or regulation, which may include fraud and elder financial exploitation. Additionally, supervised institutions can voluntarily file SARs for suspicious activities related to elder financial exploitation that do not meet the requirements for mandatory filing, such as those involving dollar amounts lower than the regulatory threshold.

Supervised institutions can consider how to detect and identify possible red flag indicators of suspected elder financial exploitation, such as unusual behavior of an older adult or their caregiver or an unexpected, large wire transfer out of an account from which the account holder has no history of similar activity. FinCEN’s 2022 Advisory on Elder Financial Exploitation provides examples of financial and behavioral red flags (FinCEN’s 2022 Advisory requests that financial institutions include all available information relating to the account and locations involved in the reported activity, identifying information and descriptions of any legal entities or arrangements involved and associated beneficial owners, and any information about related persons or entities involved in the activity). Supervised institutions can include any observed red flags of financial exploitation in the narrative section of the SAR to describe the reasons why the activity is suspicious. FinCEN’s 2022 Advisory also requests that financial institutions mark the elder financial exploitation checkbox (SAR Field 38(d)) and include “EFE FIN-2022-A002” in SAR Field 2 (Filing Institution Note to FinCEN) and in the narrative to indicate when elder financial exploitation is suspected. This approach provides potentially useful information to law enforcement and supports accurate elder financial exploitation SAR data analysis and trend tracking.

​Supervised institutions are reminded of the confidential nature of SARs and the prohibition on disclosing a SAR and any information that would reveal the existence of a SAR, except in authorized circumstances. No financial institution and no current or former director, officer, employee, or agent of a financial institution that reports a suspicious transaction, may notify any person involved in the transaction that the transaction has been reported or otherwise reveal any information that would reveal that the transaction has been reported.

VIII. Reporting to Law Enforcement, Adult Protective Services (APS), and/or Other Entities, As Appropriate
Timely reporting of elder financial exploitation increases the likelihood of successful recovery of funds. In 2013, the CFPB, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), FDIC, FRB, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), NCUA, OCC, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued joint guidance to confirm that the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act generally do not prevent financial institutions from reporting elder financial exploitation to appropriate local, state, or federal agencies.

Some state laws require certain supervised institutions to report suspected elder financial exploitation to APS, local law enforcement, and/or regulatory authorities. (NOTE: Nebraska law does not contain this requirement) In states without mandatory reporting, there may be avenues for supervised institutions to voluntarily report suspected elder financial exploitation to relevant state or local authorities. Voluntarily notifying law enforcement directly of suspected elder financial exploitation and the underlying facts may expedite and assist law enforcement investigation and prosecution.

​In addition to filing various reports, supervised institutions can consider establishing procedures for referring individuals who may be victims of elder financial exploitation to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s National Elder Fraud Hotline (833-372-8311) for assistance with reporting to the appropriate government agencies. Supervised institutions may also consider informing older adults about the options for reporting elder financial exploitation to local law enforcement, FTC, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), or other federal, state, or local agencies.

IX. Providing Financial Records to Appropriate Authorities
In addition to the reporting procedures discussed above, in some instances and consistent with applicable law, supervised institutions may expedite documentation requests for APS, law enforcement, or other investigatory agencies for active elder financial exploitation cases.

​For information on providing supporting documentation for financial records that are associated with a SAR filing, please refer to FinCEN’s FAQs. “Supporting documentation” refers to all documents or records that assisted a supervised institution in making the determination that certain activity required a SAR filing.

X. Engaging with Elder Fraud Prevention and Response Networks
Supervised institutions may also help protect older adults from financial exploitation by engaging with elder fraud prevention and response networks that include professionals from various agencies and organizations. These networks are often cross-disciplinary, collaborative efforts to protect older adults from financial exploitation. These networks can help improve coordination among supervised institutions, law enforcement, APS, local aging service providers, and other key partners. Networks can also help supervised institutions engage in professional cross-training, multidisciplinary case review and coordination, and community education efforts related to elder financial exploitation.

XI. Consumer Outreach and Awareness
When consumers are informed about specific types of scams and understand perpetrators’ tactics, they are more likely to recognize a scam and are less likely to engage with a perpetrator or lose money. Supervised institutions can support their account holders by providing timely information about trending scams and ways to avoid them.

Many federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and other groups, provide free educational resources for consumers and caregivers about preventing elder financial exploitation. Supervised institutions are encouraged to share free resources provided by government agencies with their account holders or as part of community outreach and awareness efforts. See Appendix A linked below for examples of these resources.
Appendix A 

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The foregoing Compliance Update is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. As a reminder, the NBA general counsel is the attorney for the Nebraska Bankers Association, not its member banks. The general counsel is available to assist members with finding resources to help answer their questions. However, for specific legal advice about specific situations, members must consult and retain their own attorney.