Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
7-1-2016
Abstract
Elder financial victimization is a growing problem facing older Americans. As the conduits of financial transactions, financial firms are positioned to stop losses at their source. Representatives at small and large firms were interviewed to describe their financial exploitation training and prevention programs, their detection and response protocols, and how they balance the goals of client protection with the client’s right to autonomy and privacy in financial decision-making. Representatives from regulatory agencies were interviewed to describe the interventions firms are authorized to engage in, the legal barriers they face, and recent rule change proposals that may overcome some of these barriers.
Keywords
Elder financial exploitation, elder fraud, financial advisor, fraud prevention, fraud detection, elder financial abuse, financial planning
Working Paper Number
WP2016-04
Copyright/Permission Statement
All findings, interpretations, and conclusions of this paper represent the views of the authors and not those of the Wharton School or the Pension Research Council. © 2016 Pension Research Council of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for support provided by the Pension Research Council and Boettner Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Date Posted: 06 March 2019
Comments
The published version of this Working Paper may be found in the 2017 publication: Financial Decision Making and Retirement Security in an Aging World.