Championing seniors

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This article was published 16/01/2021 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new year with a new champion… for seniors, that is.

New — voluntary — federal rules came into effect in 2021 for banks regarding how to enhance services for, and protect, aging clients.

Top among those changes is that all banks have appointed a ‘seniors champion’ to ensure the new Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors — set out by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) — does what’s it’s intended to do.

“My entire role… was created in growing recognition of the importance of this segment,” says Rick Lowes, vice-president of retirement strategy and RBC’s ‘seniors champion.’

It’s not just RBC, however. All the big banks are implementing the new rules.

For the executive director of the Manitoba Association of Senior Centres, the new regulations — even if voluntary — are good news for seniors.

“I recall about three year ago working with credit unions in the province doing exactly the same thing,” says Connie Newman.

That’s not necessarily appointing a ‘champion’ for older folks. Rather where the rubber meets the road is putting in place better training for staff — and better resources overall — to help seniors adjust to an increasing technological financial reality.

“My biggest concern today is we have several of us that are computer savvy, but there are many of us who have got on board (recently) and that whole fraud thing and the rest (other financial abuse) are on the rise, and it’s ugly,” says Newman, 72.

“Anyone in my circle knows, almost on a weekly basis, that I remind them to be careful about it.”

The conversion to online banking has been going at a rapid clip for the last decade.

But it’s been moving even faster in the past 10 months with the pandemic making banking in person a potentially deadly proposition for aged individuals.

A survey from June by CIBC, for example, notes it saw a 250 per cent increase in clients 65 and older using digital services.

Like its competitors, RBC has also seen a rise in older clients who previously would have banked in-person now turning to digital services, Lowes says.

“There’s been a large migration of clients onto a digital (banking),” he says, adding that includes triple digit percentage growth in e-transfers — which are increasingly making writing cheques and exchanging cash between individuals seem antiquated.

The challenge, however, is that as more seniors make the transition, concerns rise fraud and other financial abuse will also increase.

“As we enable more clients to bank conveniently and safely from home, that does increase the risk of more cyber-crime,” he says.

Even before the pandemic, financial abuse — which can involve fraud — was epidemic among seniors. A 2017 report by B.C. credit union Vancity found 41 per cent of elderly adults surveyed experienced some form of financial abuse, with 35 per cent of those individuals choosing not to report it.

Of course, everyone is transacting more online. Consequently, we’re all at risk of falling for cyber-fraud regardless of age.

Popular among scams is phishing, which involves victims receiving fake emails from their financial institution that provide a link to a fake log in page. Once you click on the link and log in with your password, fraudsters can access and control your real bank account.

And criminals are getting much better at making their phishing ploys look authentic, Lowes adds.

Banks are trying to keep pace, using artificial intelligence to better recognize criminal activity, he says. As well, staff are better trained to identify and question unusual financial choices among clients. That includes, for instance, asking an 85-year-old client why she wants to transfer thousands of dollars to pay a massive (fraudulent) tax bill based on a call (again fraudulent) she received allegedly from the Canada Revenue Agency (in this case fraudsters).

New measures also include more focus on processes around the power of attorney. Measures include training staff to recognize when an individual appointed with that role may be abusing it.

“We are training every client-facing role… annually around power of attorney, and fraud, to keep these fresh in their minds,” Lowes says. “That way they’re able to recognize potentially troubling situations and know the right way to deal with them.”

While the new measures are aimed to help today, they’re also a recognition that Canadian society is greying.

Statistics Canada forecasts about one-quarter of the population will be age 65 and older by 2036, increasing to almost 30 per cent by 2061.

The new code “will help set us up for dealing with the growing pressure that will come from the baby boom generation,” Lowes says.

Of course, many new retirees are tech savvy, so ensuring they can access services online is less of a concern than the “silent generation” — those being Canadians age 75 and up.

Regardless of digital literacy, aging individuals often experience declines in physical and mental acuity. And that puts them at risk financially, says certified financial planner MaryAnn Kokan-Nyhof.

“I have personally had to deal with some tricky situations where it’s sometimes hard to know if the client really understands the impact of their decision,” says the financial adviser with Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc. in Winnipeg.

Recent measures by regulators are helpful, she adds. Among the changes for investment firms has been implementing the ‘trusted contact person.’ This individual is separate from the person designated with power of attorney. And that’s an important distinction because the trusted contact is a backstop in case the attorney (not a lawyer in most instances) is not acting in good faith, Kokan-Nyhof says.

“It can get very uneasy in a joint meeting with client and family member, if there seems to be some undue influence occurring right under our noses, so to speak.”

The trusted contact is a good safety valve for advisers and clients in these situations, she adds.

Often family members are fulfilling the role of attorney for an aging loved one, and most do an exceptional job. But cases of this financial abuse still do occur.

As Lowes notes, government and financial institutions are trying to get ahead of these trouble-spots now as they’re expected to become more prevalent as society ages.

“We have a 15-year window ahead where we have more and more baby boomers heading into retirement,” he says.

Meanwhile, the pandemic is showing no signs of receding with many seniors stuck at home on their own, Newman says.

“It all goes back to isolation,” she adds, noting loneliness makes seniors more vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

The best vaccine against those is for others — friends, family, and organizations — to reach out and help.

“With COVID,” Newman adds, “that friendly voice at the end of the phone line is pretty powerful.”