The federal government inquiry into financial abuse recently called for submissions on the shift to online financial products and the impact it has on those suffering from financial abuse. We asked FSU members to share their experiences supporting customers dealing with financial abuse.
Thanks for all your feedback and comments. These firsthand experiences provided important insights for our FSU submission.
We shared stories highlighting the importance of face-to-face banking for vulnerable customers and reinforced the message from our save our local bank branches campaign – that banking should be declared an essential service and that large banks must have mandated retail branch networks.
Unsurprisingly, subpar training for workers was identified as an issue. While a small number of respondents – mostly working in specialised teams – had received adequate training, most said that their training was made up of online modules, to be completed between customers. These modules didn’t provide enough detail to allow members to best support their customers.
We’ve recommended that worker training on financial abuse be standardised and regulated to ensure minimum standards.
Read our full submission here.
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