8. Financial Abuse Code of Practice
Members of UK Finance (the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector) developed a Financial Abuse Code of Practice, working with charities, victim support and government departments.
First launched in 2018, the Code was created to increase financial firms’ awareness and understanding of financial abuse and how to spot it. Three years on from publication, the UK Finance Vulnerability Committee agreed to revisit the Code to ensure that it reflects their deeper understanding of victim-survivors’ needs, and to ensure that it is aligned with the Financial Conduct Authority Guidance on the Fair Treatment of Vulnerable Customers.1See Participating firms include Barclays Bank, Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, TSB, Lloyds, Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.
Fear of not being believed is a major barrier to victim-survivors disclosing abuse. The act of disclosure can be very challenging for some: it is an important moment for them, and how staff respond to being told about abuse can make a significant difference, which in turn can affect what the victim-survivors do next.
Some of the recommendations in the Financial Abuse Code of Practice include:
•review internal data sharing to minimise the number of times customers have to disclose the same information to one organisation;
•support the customer to access appropriate help from elsewhere in the organisation – this may include specialist teams;
•provide guidance material for people affected by financial abuse as part of the assistance for customers – this could be material produced in-house or from organisations that support victims of abuse;
•provide a straightforward process to help victims regain control of services that have been compromised by an abuser accessing them fraudulently or under duress – eg, by using their partner’s online banking or their card in an ATM;
•forbearance measures should include referral and signposting to free advice. The customer may also need independent legal advice;
•to manage these requirements, it is recommended that organisations have a clear policy on dealing with financial abuse in intimate partner relationships.
For further information on these recommendations, see UK Finance’s website.2