REFRAMING THE LENS OF ECONOMIC CRIME
How UK Firms are Confronting Economic Abuse
Full the full paper, click here.
Are regulated firms recognising the importance of economic abuse as much as they do with economic and financial crime?
It is estimated that 1 in 6 women in the UK have experienced economic abuse by a current or former partner. In the UK alone, at least 20% of reported cases of adult abuse are financial related. In a new paper, Klara Belle-Barnes highlights the crucial role that financial service firms play in mitigating and minimising the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors.
“Firms in the UK are in an unrivalled position to support victim-survivors of economic abuse. This paper provides many examples of best practice in the UK, setting out how financial services are currently offering support to victim-survivors. It also draws attention to the potential of the Consumer Duty to transform the industry response, with a focus on product design and service delivery through a preventative lens. Crucially, it highlights the importance of recognising economic abuse as a form of economic crime and the considerable financial damage it causes, raising the question around whether financial services in the UK are responding to economic abuse with the same level of urgency as other economic crimes such as fraud, anti-money laundering and tax evasion. Working alongside survivors, we know that responses are still inconsistent across multiple financial services. Papers like this are important to share best practice which is not only life-changing, but life-saving.” – Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs OBE, founder and CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse
“Domestic and economic abuse is a key business issue for us; with 30 million customers and around 65,000 colleagues, that means that at any one time a number of our customers and colleagues will be living in a domestic abusive situation. Many victims are not aware of economic abuse, which can lead to financial exclusion and limit their ability to access safety. Through the Domestic and Financial Abuse team, we play a key role in offering practical support and guidance to victims and survivors to help them regain control.” – Fiona Cannon, Group Sustainable Business Director, Lloyds Banking Group
A special thank you to UK Finance for their help in informing the paper.
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