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June 16, 2021 at 02:16 PM
What You Need to Know
- The program helps securities firms implement training requirements of the Senior Safe Act.
- The training aims to promote greater and earlier detection and reporting of suspected financial exploitation, NASAA said.
- The law protects financial institutions from liability when reporting suspected financial abuse of an older adult.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the North American Securities Administrators Association have joined forces to offer a program to help securities firms implement training requirements of the Senior Safe Act.
Firms can use the program, “Addressing and Reporting Financial Exploitation of Senior and Vulnerable Adult Investors,” to train associated people on how to detect, prevent and report such exploitation.
The Senior Safe Act, included as Section 303 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, was signed into law on May 24, 2018.
The groups said Tuesday that they were offering the free program to recognize World Financial Elder Abuse Awareness Day. In May 2019, the groups provided the industry with the Senior Safe Act Fact Sheet.
A NASAA spokesperson told ThinkAdvisor that “NASAA, FINRA and the SEC have been working on this training since 2019. This was a significant effort involving many hours of hard work and collaboration between three organizations — representing the federal regulator, the industry’s self-regulatory organization, and state securities regulators – to develop such a comprehensive training.”
The act protects “covered financial institutions” — which include investment advisors, broker-dealers, and transfer agents — and their eligible employees, affiliated persons, and associated persons from liability in any civil or administrative proceeding for reporting a case of potential exploitation of an older adult to a covered agency.
