Combating elder financial abuse takes community team work, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report issued Tuesday.

The agency called for a proliferation of networks of financial professionals, including advisors, and social service, legal, medical and law enforcement officials who interact frequently with seniors to improve the prevention, detection, reporting of and response to elder financial exploitation.

“No single community entity is responsible for effectively preventing and responding to elder financial exploitation, nor can one entity do so. [As network members,] financial institutions are uniquely positioned to detect that an elder account holder has been targeted or victimized and to take action,” the CFPB said.

The networks can be important in the prosecution of abusers, educating community government and private professionals on elder abuse; and identifying gaps in services, the report noted.

Network members from financial institutions, including forensic accountants and compliance officers, are said to be particularly valuable in providing advice and analysis on financial transactions, access to needed documentation and recovery of assets.

According to the CFPB, 891 local networks around the country are aimed at combating senior abuse as a whole while 54 are exclusively focused on elderly financial exploitation.

The teams are in the shortest supply in rural areas which also have the highest concentration of seniors among the nation’s counties.

While many of the networks focusing on financial and other forms of abuse of seniors have been formed voluntarily, the CFPB noted some are mandated by law.

As an example, California requires local adult protective service agencies to lead multi-disciplinary senior abuse networks in every county in the state.

Essential to the success of a network are long term funding and a well-connected, multi-skilled, passionate leader, the CFBP found in reviewing the existing operations.