The North American Securities Administrator’s Association announced a program to help train financial professionals in reporting suspected elder exploitation. The training, called Senior$afe, will roll out to NASAA members in April and will include training, visual aids and a guide to red flags of elder financial abuse.

NASAA’s initiative was inspired by a similar program from the Maine Council for Elder Abuse Prevention created for bank and credit union tellers.

“Recognizing the signs of cognitive decline and financial exploitation is critical if we are to protect elderly and vulnerable investors,” said Judith Shaw, NASAA president and the Maine Securities Administrator. “Financial professionals are uniquely positioned to identify red flags of fraud and abuse. We can all work together to provide a solution.”

NASAA’s new training program is just part of an ongoing senior initiative that includes a model act designed to protect vulnerable adults from exploitation and a new website, ServeOurSeniors.org, dedicated to senior-focused resources.

Loewy gave kudos to NASAA’s efforts, acknowledging that the financial services industry has made great strides in addressing the issue of elder exploitation, but also arguing that can’t be expected to solve the problem on its own.

“They’re working on their own algorithms to capture abuse and exploitation, and they’re focusing more on seniors,” Loewy says. “I think it’s asking a lot to have them focus on just one group of victims, and they’re hamstrung because they can’t share information across accounts and they can’t ask for credit reports. That may be a reason that some firms, like Fidelity, are interested in what we’re doing.”

Red Flags

According to the National Institute on Aging, the most common red flag of financial exploitation is unusual account activity. But many financial professionals and other watchdogs aren’t looking across all of a client’s accounts. That’s where EverSafe come in.

“We start by monitoring financial transactions – credit card, bank, investment, credit report – that serves as the basis for identifying suspicious activity we identify activity,” Tischler says. “We’ve developed algorithms based on what happens to an aging population. We look at an individual’s historical transactions, and we report things that are specifically out of the ordinary given their past behavior.”

EverSafe also monitors clients’ credit reports, and sends out alerts when unusual transactions occur.