TORONTO, June 3, 2024 – To mark Seniors Month in June, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) is celebrating the significant contributions older adults make to the country while reaffirming its continued commitment to supporting the well-being and empowerment of older adults in communities across Canada.

"Older adults make up a considerable part of the banks’ customer base in Canada and this group is expected to grow over the coming years,¹" says Anthony G. Ostler, President and CEO of the Canadian Bankers Association. “It is important to banks that all Canadians feel empowered to strengthen their financial literacy and, since older adults are targeted by financial scams, confident in their ability to spot fraud and financial abuse.”

Financial Abuse and Fraud Prevention Resources

• Free Financial Fraud Prevention Seminars – in collaboration with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the CBA offers a non-commercial financial literacy seminar program Your Money Seniors to Canadians who are about to retire or have already retired. With dedicated modules on how to recognize financial abuse, better prepare for retirement and fraud prevention, the seminars aim to equip older adults with the tools they need to stay safe from fraud and scams. Seminars are delivered by bankers volunteering their time in their communities and are free of charge.
• Fraud Prevention Toolkit for Older Adults – the CBA makes fraud prevention toolkits available to help Canadians protect themselves against common and emerging scams. Created in collaboration with the Government of Canada’s Get Cyber Safe campaign, the toolkit tailored for older adults includes a fraud prevention checklist and tips to avoid swindles such as phone scams, the grandparent scam, and tech-support scams. Recommendations on how to choose strong passwords and how to recognize and prevent financial abuse are also provided.
• Financial Abuse Prevention Tips: June 15 is also World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), a United Nations International Day to address all aspects of abuse against seniors, including financial abuse, as a public health and human rights issue. The CBA has resources to help combat financial abuse, including downloadable handouts on the following topics:
  
  
  • Financial Abuse – It’s not your fault: This handout outlines the common warning signs of financial abuse, tips for identifying abusers, and suggested prevention tactics.
  • Powers of attorney: What Consumers Need to Know: A handout covering the basics of setting up a Power of Attorney and how to protect against financial abuse.
  • Appropriate use of joint accounts: It’s important for everyone, including seniors, to be aware of the potential for abuse or conflict when opening joint accounts. This handout provides an overview and suggests alternatives.
• The Code of Conduct to Protect Older Adults – banks in Canada also support the Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors, which reinforces banks’ longstanding commitment to respond to the unique, evolving needs of senior customers including training for bank employees on how to help older customers avoid financial abuse, frauds and scams.

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¹Statistics Canada, 2021 Census data by age: Proportion (%) of persons aged 65 years and over https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm